Musical Melodies
by Nyx the Author
Summary: We all know the story of Taylor and the Locker. But what if a much more significant event happened slightly differently? Things are going to get jazzy. (Flute is Trigger/Musical!Taylor, based off of Cacophony from Space Battles. Taylor looks like Hatsune Miku after Clef 1-4) ON HIATUS
1. Clef 1-1

**Clef 1.1**

 **Summary:** Taylor had always enjoyed music. It brought peace to her life and allowed her to vent emotions without doing anything brash. When her mother's flute shattered, she thought her life was going down the drain. Then the locker happened, and her mind nearly shattered when bugs crawled into her ears. Then she started hearing things...

I own nothing. If a song name is bolded, then a song is playing, and the name of the song can be found at the bottom of the chapter. Warning: For those unaware, there is bullying and offensive language in this fanfiction. It's Worm, people, don't flip over a few curse words.

Songs in this chapter:  
The song Annette hums is **Lost in Thoughts All Alone** from Fire Emblem Fates, but with no words.  
 **Demons** by Imagine Dragons is the song at the end of the chapter.

* * *

 **April 22, 2005**

Crystal clear notes filled the air as deft fingers manipulated the flute. Taylor giggled happily as her mother played the instrument. "My turn, my turn!" she laughed excitedly.

Her mother smiled down at her. "Of course sweetie." she said happily, passing the flute over to Taylor.

"What should I play?" she asked. Annette Hebert tilted her head in thought. "You pick."

The young girl nodded excitedly and pressed the flute to her lips, gently blowing. The notes that came out were the same as what her mother had played, but at a faster pace. Her mother began humming along as the song played. They sat like that for a while, in tune with the music, until she reached the end of the song. "That was wonderful." her mother said genially. "You've improved a lot!"

"Yep! I've been practicing that song for you! Remember, it's your favorite!" Taylor smiled adorably.

Annette chuckled. "Well, then I'd like to give this to you." She held out the flute.

Taylor gaped at her mother. "Really?" she said hopefully.

"Of course, I hope you can use it as much as I have." Annette laughed.

"Thank you thank you!" Taylor jumped around in excitement.

* * *

 **July 6, 2009**

Taylor hugged the flute to her chest, stress clouding her features. She gazed at the beginnings of a journal, a desperate attempt to keep track of every infraction the bullies made against her. "I miss you mom..." she muttered to herself, humming a few notes of music. After her mother's death, Taylor had been nearly traumatized, the only thing that saved her from a mental break was the flute her mother had given her. She brought it to school for the last few weeks, and the feeling of the cool metal pressed into her back through her backpack was what helped cool her temper day after day.

It seemed the terrible trio, Sophia Hess, Madison Clements, and Emma Barnes, were upping their game lately, and Taylor didn't know how much more she could take. ' _It wasn't like the teachers at this place were going to do anything_.' she thought irritably. After three failed attempts at reporting the bullying and several missing homework assignments in response, it was clear no one cared.

She arrived at school, rapidly tracing the paths through the halls to avoid Emma and her friends. Arriving in class, she sighed in relief, and pulled out her homework. The day continued, with Madison and Emma harassing her at every turn, stealing her work and using it as their own, spilling shavings from the pencil sharpener on her, and knocking over food and drinks near her in the cafeteria. Every time they made a move, she simply focused on the form of the flute within the backpack, and her emotions simmered down.

It is now 1:30 pm, just after Taylor's World Issues class with Mr. Gladly. She left the class in frustration, growling about how Gladly didn't even blink when she was being bullied right in front of him, yet clearly saw it. "Oof!" she gasped as a hard shoulder checked her. ' _That would be Sophia._ ' she thought, turning to face the arrogant track star.

"Aww, Hebert I didn't know you wanted to be a dog!" Sophia laughed. "No wonder you're always crawling in the mud. Oh well, nothing short of parahuman intervention could make you more of an animal than you already are." Taylor glared. "Oh, sorry, you're not an animal, you're worse. Like a sad puppy. Or an orphan. Your mom's not around, so-"

Taylor saw red, and staggered to her feet. She nearly slapped the girl, but stopped when she realized how devastated her father would be when the school inevitably called home. Putting all of her willpower into ignoring the taunts, she straightened her shoulders and strode off down the hall, the small crowd backing away. ' _Cowards. Sheep milling around to watch the spectacle. None of you stood up for me. You disgust me._ ' She didn't look at a single one of them, leaving the building

She made it off of campus before she realized something was wrong. She almost missed it, but a small voice in her mind reminded her. The shape she had felt in her bag earlier was missing. Paling, she twisted around and felt her bag. Then she dropped it to the floor and frantically began searching it and looking around. The flute was gone.

* * *

Unable to contact any of the bullies to see where the flute could be, Taylor had to wait until the next day to ask. At home, her father had noticed her anxiety, but Taylor put it off as stress from an upcoming test. Once she was in school, she went immediately to Emma's locker. As she turned the corner, she could see the trio laughing about some kind of joke that had been made. Taylor stormed through the group of hanger-ons that were in the way, striding right up to Sophia. "WHERE IS IT?" she screamed furiously.

Sophia flinched back, surprised by Taylor's outburst. A small smirk grew on the track star's face, and that was all the confirmation Taylor needed. "Where is what? Your dignity?"

"I don't have time for your shit, _Hess_. Where is my flute?!" she growled at Sophia.

"Wow, looks like you're growing a pair." Emma said as she walked up. The meaning of the sentence was not lost on Taylor as she self-consciously thought about her underdeveloped chest. "You deserve a _reward_." The way she spoke the word was as if it was the most disgusting thing in existence. "Your _item_ by the dumpster out back, where you belong. Maybe next time you will..."

Taylor was gone before the entire insult left Emma's mouth. She rushed past a group of teens in green and red smoking at the back doors, and flew out the back door. She saw a doggie bag on the ground atop the dumpster, and rushed over and tore it open. She stopped. Then a keening wail tore past her lips as she stared at what used to be her flute. It was covered in a mixture of substances so vile that she nearly puked on the spot. The worst part was that even if she had cleaned it off, it had also been smashed repeatedly with a blunt object, and was melted in some places. There was no possible way to repair it.

She stumbled away with the bag in her hands, and feverishly began rinsing it off in the water fountain. Her mind was in utter shock, unable to function fluently. Once it was mostly clean, she finally realized what was happening. Her breathing increased, and tears started forming in her eyes. As her vision blurred, she fell to the ground and passed out.

_-M&M-_

 **Power. Not a solid object, but an ideal. Something all beings strive for. Condensed. A shard. Searching. _Potential found._ Located. _Need?_ Information was read, then incorporated. _Connecting._**

* * *

Taylor stirred with a groan, sitting up on the white linoleum floor. She staggered from the room, limply holding the slightly cleaner flute in her hand, not caring about the filth. She made it to the nurse's office before she passed out again.

* * *

 ** _Connected._ Integrate. Music. Emotion. And a Corona Potentia was formed. Growth. The Gemma was large. Not too large, but enough to be significant. Completion.**

* * *

Taylor left the nurse's office shakily, but healthy. She was informed that she didn't have any physical wounds, but was in minor shock. The nurse simply gave her a form to let her father know what had happened and sent her on her way. Had she been more aware she would have been outraged at the lack of care even the school nurse had shown in the situation. She had barely enough time to wash out the rest of the flute completely before her dad picked her up. The ride home was silent, Danny assuming she hadn't done well on a test. She didn't bother correcting him. At home, she sat on her bed while her father went to a board meeting with the Dockworkers Union. She sat on her bed, listening to music, cradling the flute in her hands.

"Why?" Taylor said aloud. "Why me? Why did _I_ have to have this happen to me?" she cried. She lay down, listening to the sounds of Imagine Dragons ' **Believer** ' playing quietly. She softly sang the lyrics with the notes, tears slipping down her cheeks. She began settling down, focusing on the words.

The song ended, and she moved to turn off the Walkman before going to bed. She paused in confusion. The music had been playing, and the walkman was't even on.

* * *

 **I'm ignoring that most songs she will use in this fic don't exist on Earth Bet. It's her shard hijacking interdimensional radio signals, I guess.**

 **Taylor's Power** : _She has a randomized power, similar to Eidolon but only one power slot at a time. She can control it somewhat, like trying to get a specific type of power (Brute, Thinker, etc). If she chooses a power type, the category she chooses will be the main ability of the power, but not always the only one. It is also affected by her emotions and mood, the music tone being affected as well as her power's... lethality and negative effects. She can use several songs a day, but the length of time and the power's strength will affect that. As the story continues, her limits will hopefully be clearer._

 **Check out my other stories and leave a review. Also I'm open to suggestions for songs as the story progresses. All music will become very important later.**


	2. Clef 1-2 (With Omake)

**Songs for this Chapter:**

 **Believer -** Imagine Dragons (Playing from last chapter)

 **Bet On It** \- High School Musical

* * *

 **Clef 1.2**

 _A chill went down her spine. The Walkman was't even on._

"Who's there?" she asked fearfully. She grabbed the chair from her desk, and hefted it up. She cautiously moved forward, and kicked open her door. No one was there. "Huh?" she muttered. The music was coming from somewhere, but she couldn't tell where. "What the heck?"

The music seemed to be coming from nowhere, but wasn't echoing. Taylor checked to see if she left in headphones, but there was no source. "This is a little scary..."

The song seemed to slow down at that statement. Taylor began getting a little angry. "Oh, so whoever's messing with me can hear me, huh? Well buzz off, I don't want you around." The music stopped. A feeling surrounded her, and she felt caged, like a lion. There was an instinct to go take out what was causing her fear. The terrible trio.

' _What?_ ' she stopped. ' _I wasn't... no, that's right, they made me afraid, so I should make_ them _afraid._ ' Nodding to herself, she grinned. "Wow," she said aloud. "I didn't realize it before, but, yeah, I _really_ want to make them pay. It feels good to accept that." The music kicked up again and **changed**. (Song 1) She paused to listen to it play in her head, then realized that she was being a bit rash. She should plan out a revenge scheme, then take down the three when they were at their weakest.

She pulled out some paper and began writing...

* * *

"-aylor?" Danny said, breaking her train of thought. Taylor blinked at him in surprise, then looked down. Before her were stacks of paper, filled from top to bottom with detailed notes. The song in the background seemed to jump slightly like a child caught going into the cookie jar, and cut off. Suddenly the stress of writing nonstop for a while appeared and her hand began cramping.

"Yeah dad? What's up?" Taylor asked. Danny sighed. "I've been trying to get your attention for a while now. You've been writing for about two hours straight, and I didn't want to distract you. I also heard the same song on loop for a while, going on and off like you were messing with a transmitter. What have you been doing?"

Taylor glanced at the papers she had no recollection of writing, and ignored the mention of music. "Homework. It's an essay on... tinker tech?" she said, glancing at the sheet quickly to see what was on it.

"Huh." Her dad said in surprise. "I didn't think you'd be too interested in that."

Taylor shrugged. "It was more interesting than I expected. I lost track of time."

Danny nodded. "Alright, come down when you're ready for dinner. I microwaved food since you didn't have time to cook."

Taylor immediately felt bad. "I'm really sorry, I didn't realize it was that late." she said apologetically. Her dad nodded, leaving the room.

She sat back in relief, letting out a breath she hadn't noticed taking in. "What did I do in the last 2 hours?" she muttered.

* * *

"Well, shit. That's cool." Taylor breathed out, staring in fascination at the papers. In the last two hours, she had written up a detailed plan to get revenge (She had explicitly marked it as vengeance, but revenge didn't sound as bad) on Emma and her friends, an explanation for what the music was, a diagram for tinker tech of some kind, and minor notes about good materials for protective gear. The last one confused her, but she must have only just been coming up with an idea when the inspiration for the notes cut off. Which was also when the music cut out... huh.

She looked down to see a post-it note on the floor that must have come off the pages. _Mental Stress will probably cause memory loss of Tinker/Thinker idea rush. Note to self: You just got over a thinker rush. You are a parahuman, and have the ability to use other abilities, known as a trump power._ The notes give a more detailed carefully measured explanation of the powers, and a way to measure them. Taylor realized with a start what that meant.

So she was a parahuman? That explained the rush of knowledge and notes she couldn't explain. She had just gotten a power that made her smarter, if the notes were any indication. If the note said that she could use the abilities of other capes, then why did she not remember the last 2 hours? In the margins there were scribbled explanations for her powers until one was circled multiple times.

 _Flute was trigger event. Trigger events are the most traumatic experiences of one's life, and will most always give powers._

"I would say that's cool, but the whole flute thing wasn't cool." The notes went on to explain her powers based on experimentation. Her powers appeared to be sentient in some way, and would play music. The music would give her new abilities, and may have other side effects that are unknown. In order to properly check what each song does so she doesn't accidentally hurt someone, she had drawn out the image of an (essentially unbreakable) audio/mental analyzer, which looked like a high-tech Walkman that would clip onto her waist. it would analyze the songs and come up with what each one did. It had a list of all required parts, and instruction of how to begin. There were also some smaller sketches of a watch that would hook up to it and display the current songs and their effects so she could check in combat.

Another margin note pointed out the flute was unusable and she should get it melted down and made into a necklace with a blue gemstone in the center. There was some off-hand description of the sentimentality of the object resonating with her music.

Overall the materials she would need were quite easy to get ahold of, but some were a little expensive. The Dockworkers Union had access to some, but she would have to explain to her dad why she needed sensitive microphones, silicon, tinkertech speakers, and some platinum to make circuit boards.

Scratching her head at the explanation for how to build it, Taylor thought about how she would be able to build it, then slapped her head. _'Duh, I'll just use the music to make myself smarter again_.'

Next, (there were a lot of notes to go through) she saw a detailed art of a costume that would work with her powerset, with speakers built into the shoulders and back (tinkertech, of course) that would spread her music and it would have different effects on others.

Saving the best for last, she looked at the first page in more detail, and began laughing at how sadistic the revenge plan was. With a satisfied sigh, she stapled the notes together and placed them in her closet alongside her journal. She really was itching to make the tinker items to use her powers with, but first, it was time to deal with the trio.

* * *

 **Omake** (The OP Troll Villain Route, Part One)

The PRT forces backed up nervously. "Stand down!" Armsmaster shouted at the figure. The unknown cape had taken out Aegis easily when the ward had tried to stop the bank robbery. The cape had some kind of music based Trump powers, and it was worrying that the music hadn't been playing for a while. As if they were charging up for an attack. They raised their arms dramatically, as they had done when starting a new song earlier. The air hummed as the song began, and Armsmaster shouted at everyone to get down. The agents threw themselves to the ground.

The music began playing from the cape's suit. _Duh duh duh du du da dada dada!_ Airhorns sounded.

 _We're no strangers to love_  
 _You know the rules and so do I_  
 _A full commitment's what I'm thinking of_  
 _You wouldn't get this from any other guy_

The figure sang along.

"What did you do?" called Armsmaster worriedly.

"You just got Rick Rolled!" the figure laughed aloud, walking away cheerfully. As Armsmaster tried to follow her, she flickered away, and seemed to vanish into thin air. Along with all the money from the bank.

Armsmaster stared at the blown up wall and sighed. "I need a vacation..."

 **Never Gonna Give you Up** \- Rick Astley | **Mover 6** , _The Rick Roll is never expected, but is always watching. Can ambush someone instantly, causing embarrassment, and escape whenever they wish with unstoppable teleportation. RICK ROLLED!_

* * *

Taylor Hebert Stats (As of Now)  
 _(Trump Infinity/Master 3) combo, able to manipulate other people's emotions and luck with music, and she can affect herself for a few hours with different songs, giving her new Parahuman abilities. She creates music that everyone can hear. She has no control over the music, and it simply plays as if someone else has control. This other mind, the one controlling the music, will help Taylor achieve her goals, but if there is a situation where there is a life or death option, it will choose to help Taylor rather than others._

 _The music gives her new abilities based on the song's theme and mood. The possibilities are endless, resulting in her Trump rating. I try to have random songs, but at least once a chapter I have songs specifically used to push the plot forward. However the rest of combat is randomly selected from user suggestions._

 _Adaptive Ambiance - She seems to have ambient music based on where she is, like a video game, alerting her of important events. (A sudden change in music represents an important change in the environment, like capes arriving or some other event) The ability is marked as a Thinker ability (Precog/Shaker) due to it alerting Taylor of dangers before she herself notices them, or they even see her._

* * *

Songs in this Chapter (Power Classifications copied from Worm Wikia):  
 **Demons** \- Imagine Dragons - _Shaker 3-4, [Shield] Brute 4-5, Master 4_  
 _Increases aggressiveness to anything causing fear. Adds ability to protect things important to Taylor with an AOE forcefield shield, and instill fear into enemies from a distance without firing projectiles. Unfortunately, this song was used before Taylor was aware of her powers, so she lost a rather good one._

 **Bet on It** \- High School Musical 2 - _Thinker 2/Tinker 4 Combo, with minor Breaker State_  
 _Less respectful to authority. Gains ability to plan complex ideas from early on and with little information and multitask more, but only when used selfishly. The plans are reliable due to minor probability, allowing her to confidently bet on the chance of the plan winning. She is less respectful to authority and more headstrong. Other people are unable to manipulate Taylor as easily. A deadly combination when paired with an aggressive/territorial song._


	3. Clef 1-3

**Thanks for submitting songs after last chapter went up! I plan to use a few of them in combat, and I have a list of about 50 songs I came up with myself, so Taylor probably won't be using the same song twice too often. Also, as a note, I have two song groupings separate from the rest of the songs I cal 'Amp Up' songs. They are all remixes of the same song, but gradually get crazier and crazier, so basically a gradually more and more powerful ultimate song if Taylor keeps amping up enough times. Should be fun. One is for vs Lung, and I won't be telling when the others are. That would be cheating. Enjoy!**

 **(Hey, you should go check out the fanfiction known as 'Tarantism' it's quite similar to this one, but each song has a different master effect rather than giving abilities. It's pretty cool. One last thing, let me know if there are any errors in this chapter. I updated at night so there might be one or two. I think the songs are in the right order.)**

* * *

Here are the songs with the classifications. Just put these names into YouTube and you should get them. More detail of each power is at the end of the chapter.

 **1\. Home - Undertale OST |** _Ambient Music_

 **2\. 7 Nation Army |** _Brute 5, Striker 4_

 **3\. Doki Doki Literature Club! OST Disc 1 - 01 Doki Doki Literature Club! |** _Ambient Music_

 **4\. Intelligent Sounds - Flume |** _Thinker 7_

 **5\. I Know You Too Well to Like You Anymore |** _Thinker 4,_ _Master 1,_ _Trump 2_

* * *

Taylor stretched awake, blinking tiredly at the clock. She stumbled out of bed, and began her morning routine. It was only halfway through her run that she fully woke up, and realized what was happening that day at school. Her power woke up, sensing her desire. She was ready to take on Winslow. She paused, realizing a faint tune was **playing** (Song 1) in the background. She had read about this in the notes. It was an ambient music that was in locations of importance, symbolizing the importance of an area. The music was peaceful, soothing her excited nerves.

Her power turned **on** (Song 2), music pumping into her ears. She hummed along, already boosting the abilities if the Thinker notes were to be believed. Her power was sentient in away, giving her powers to help with her goals, but didn't have the perfect song for the situation every time, but rather something that would help at the time. Hopefully this would be something useful. And then she stubbed her toe on the table.

"Owwww?" she said, crying out before realizing there wasn't any pain. So she kicked the table again. The table jumped back a foot from the impact, acting like it had been hit with a large force. "Huh. Nice." Taylor grinned. Clearly this was some kind of strength power, or Brute package, as the PRT called it.

She decided to grab a slightly revealing skirt instead of her standard hoodie and jeans, and she had to say it looked rather nice despite her lack of 'assets' on her body. She quickly had a bowl of cereal, skimming through her notes her Tinker self had written. She absentmindedly put the dishes in the sink and got into the car. Her dad drove her to Winslow, glancing at her in the mirror with a worried glance.

"Taylor?" Danny asked, noticing the intricate notes his daughter had. She quickly looked up. "Yeah dad?"

"What's that?" he asked, curious. Taylor quickly threw out an excuse. "Research, like I said. On tinker-tech."

Danny nodded, recalling her reasoning from the day before. Then a suspicion entered his mind. "What do you mean by-"

"I'll tell you later. I gotta get ready for my class presentation." Taylor said without hesitating. Danny frowned more. It wasn't like Taylor to push him off like that. Well... not the old Taylor. Recently they had been drifting apart, but even so, this was new. "Alright..." he said.

She stepped out of the car, stuffing the papers into her bag. "See you after school!" she called. Danny waved back, hiding his emotions. Taylor pushed through the front doors, the ambient music kicking in. ( _Play song 3_ ) The music was sweet to her ears, but something gave her a worrying feeling about the area. Was her power telling her something? She shrugged it off, letting the song from earlier cover it up.

* * *

Taylor skipped into the school, grinning brightly. She turned the corner to her locker, eyeing the hallways. Multiple people whispered about her, probably about when she had shouted at Sophia, but she ignored them. Months of harassment would do that to someone. Footsteps sounded behind her, and she spun around.

"Aww, how cute. You came back." Sophia's snarky voice came from behind her. Taylor stared at the bully, taking in her relaxed stance. Taylor doubted Sophia would be so relaxed if she knew Taylor had powers and could do something about the bullying. Sophia didn't notice Taylor's indecisiveness at all, still talking loudly.

"Please, I saw you yesterday, crying, passing out. Pathetic. I can't believe your mother even cared about a weakling like that." Sophia smiled. Taylor saw red hair around the corner. Emma.

"Don't talk about her." Taylor said, glaring. She would have been much more vicious in her response, but honestly? Her being a cape made all of their insults seem useless. Her powers were something that couldn't be taken away from her. Sophia blinked in surprise, grinning. "What? The worm has fangs? They just make you look uglier." Taylor ignored Sophia, moving past her.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Sophia said, shoving Taylor's shoulder. She barely felt the impact, but had to put up appearances. Taylor whipped around, smacking away Sophia, the dark-skinned girl stumbled back, staring in shock at the girl. "Don't touch me." Taylor said, glaring.

She walked on, past Emma and Madison, who stared in shock. They didn't look away until she turned the corner. Then Taylor could hear them move to help Sophia, who shouted something back. Taylor giggled to herself once she turned a corner, smiling widely. Having a power was _fun_.

* * *

In class, the girls still tried to annoy her, although a bit more cautious about it after the previous interaction with her. It was like they had encountered a new creature and were trying to see what it could do without pissing it off, or maybe a science experiment that could go off and they were handling the catalyst. Eventually, they went back to their normal routine after Taylor kept ignoring them. Madison bumped into Taylor in class, spilling a handful of pencil shavings onto her. "Sorry, I didn't see you." she said loudly.

Taylor grit her teeth, but could feel the double power from when Madison bumped into her. She grabbed a chunk of eraser, and flicked it. _Hard_. It flew forward, pinging off the floor, and striking Madison's ear. The girl flinched, and Taylor could hear the sound of the impact from across the classroom.

"Mrs. Knott! Taylor threw a rock at me or something!" Madison shouted.

The teacher ran over quickly, and looked at the situation. There was a mark on Madison's ear, but no sign of anything that could have been thrown at her. She glanced at Taylor, who was glancing over in obvious confusion, no sign of anything besides papers on her desk. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Madison nodded, wincing as the teacher felt her ear. the teacher sighed. "Ms. Hebert, please come with me."

Taylor blinked. "Why?" she asked. The teacher glanced at Madison for a moment. "You threw something at Ms. Clements." she responded.

Taylor sighed. "Do you have proof?" she asked.

The teacher shifted nervously. "No." she replied.

"Then you can't do anything. Any time I get in trouble for something my side is not heard, and any time I report something I get ignored." she said in frustration. Emma spoke up. "I saw it!"

Taylor whirled on the redhead. "I did nothing!" she growled. Mrs. Knott blinked. "Well now I have a witness." she said, pulling out a piece of paper.

"This only happens because no one has the balls to stand up for me!" she shouted.

Mrs. Knott didn't respond, only handing over a slip to the office. When Taylor took the pass, Mrs. Knott whispered to her quietly. "I know you didn't do anything, but I can't just let you out of here without a punishment, especially if someone saw something." Taylor met Mrs. Knott's eyes. The excuse was weak, and they both knew it. If they had to investigate regardless of the proof, then Taylor would have had the trio expelled by this point. She took the paper with a bad taste in her mouth and left the room.

The last thing she saw was Madison and Emma grinning. She held back on slamming the door, knowing with her strength, she might break the thing. She stalked away down the hall. ' _Screw the office_.' she thought, and went to the library instead. Then her music shut off, and the strength she had vanished. She hadn't even noticed that she had been walking differently, the strength had allowed her to move faster, holding her weight differently. In comparison, walking without the power was like

After bypassing the librarian with an excuse that she finished her work early, she moved to the section of dictionaries, and paged through them. Her song **changed** (Song 4). The new song was a mix of sounds, and she recognized most of them, her memory suddenly clarifying, and she could remember things much more clearly. What she ate two weeks ago, . Her personality changed as well, becoming cool and calculating rather than hotheaded like before. Her eyes changing to electric blue, and pulsed when she took in new information. Using the newfound intelligence, she came to an assumption as to why her song had cut out earlier. She simply didn't have the strength for it. Her power had limits, whether physical or mental, she was unsure. This limit seemed rather small though. Only two songs and she couldn't even hold it for more than a couple minutes? No, there had to be some kind of increase over time, like practicing her power would help later.

"I require repetitive practice of my powers if I wish to make a profit from them." Running that one song all day, combined with her hearing the passive ambient music in the background was draining her fast. On the upside, listening to the ambient music was beyond her control, and would be like wearing a heavier backpack, raising her endurance over time.

She could tell the music that was playing was not as effective, the energy was less due to the aforementioned endurance that she lacked. She shrugged, grabbing a few books. It wouldn't hurt to use her intelligence while she had it. She found a list of words she was interested in and wrote them down, and chose one that felt right. "I think my name will be... Medley. A term that is not too verbose, yet stands out." She smiled, the name just sounding... right.

* * *

*Brrrriiiiing!*

Taylor glanced up, startled, to see the clock marked 3:30, the end of school for the day. Had she been studying for that long? She stared at the mess of books around her, consisting of every subject she knew and more, like electronics and music. And she remembered everything she read perfectly. She painstakingly organized the books back onto the shelves, and left the building. She made her way to the front of school, and was nearly out the doors as Emma rounded a corner in front of Taylor.

"So you got in trouble? Hah, I bet you just wanted attention." Emma pouted. Taylor stared at the girl. Why was she like this? What caused her to become such a bitch? Emma glared. Oh, Taylor said that out loud.

" _I_ grew up Hebert. I understand how the world works. It's kill or be killed, hunt or be hunted." she stated.

Taylor sighed, tilting her head. The intelligence power was still running, and her increased knowledge allowed her to think like a strategist, and realized the pointlessness of the entire situation. Emma had no reason to bully her any more, yet she still did. It would be beneficial for both sides if they walked away. She winced slightly as her power strained to keep going, a small headache forming. This power was more suited to hard information, not inferring social actions. A preemptive action was needed to prevent a waste of time and resources that were provided by her power.

Emma was startled when Taylor briskly walked forward, pushing past the red head. "I have more important activities to partake in rather than this mindless rabble you are spouting. This is an unnecessary use of our time and resources. Allow me to leave." Taylor said in short clipped sentences. Emma moved in front of Taylor, preventing her from leaving. "Where do you think you're going?" Emma said. Rather than the confidence she had held before, the redhead seemed earnest, a hint of desperation in her voice.

' _It would be wiser to change tactics_.' Taylor calculated. Taylor dropped the song, her power stopping, having almost ended anyway. She felt a migraine headache pulse withing her head, clearly a side effect of using her powers for a while, but pushed past it. She tried to request a new song, but her power wasn't responding. She pushed down her frustration, and _forced_ a song to **play** (Song 5). Her power crackled to life, and she could feel it sputter along. An unfamiliar chorus began, and Taylor figuratively read the lyrics for a moment, then grinned as information began flowing into her mind.

She saw pictures in her head, like a montage of Emma's life flashing before her. She could see herself as a five year old in the Barnes' household, making cookies with their mothers. Riding a bike in the park. There was something deeper there, she could feel it.

Taylor smirked, and began saying the lyrics like sentences, jumping through the song to come up with what to say. It was actually rather hard to talk normally, the song was kinda catchy. " _I know you too well, to like you any more. In the beginning we were grinning and we didn't even know what we were smiling for_." she said aloud. Emma pursed her lips in confusion. " _It felt so good deep in my heart and that's for sure, but now I feel sick when I'm around you, and it hurts my head to think about how I know you too well to like you any more_!" Taylor said.

Emma shook her head. "What are you going on about? You disgust me. Are you saying you still thought there was a chance we could be friends?"

Taylor flipped through the data in her head. The song was giving her all the knowledge about Emma. _All of it._ From her favorite food, the defining moment in her life, to her favorite sexual fantasy. It was overwhelming, but she kept pushing through the old images to find the one that mattered. "I can't stand you!" Taylor said, stalling while she looked for a weak spot in Emma's life.

"I can't stand you even more!" Emma shouted. "You bitch!"

"Cunt!"

"Attention Whore!"

"Slut!"

"You have no tits!"

"You have no personality!"

"You're hanging onto someone who doesn't like you any more!"

There was a small crowd, recording the entire thing, and Taylor was loving it. Even if she lost this argument, the crowd wouldn't see Emma the same way.

Then she landed on two interesting tidbits of information. She saw an alleyway, and red and green. Then she saw a shadow figure above. Then she saw the figure without a mask. Taylor froze.

It made so much _sense_. Why everything wasn't working out for her. Why Emma was so different. For some reason, Taylor wasn't feeling angry. No, all she felt was... _pity_.

"I'm so sorry for what happened to you." Taylor said, suddenly quieter. The crowd's small chatter was covering her words, but Emma was close enough to hear them.

Emma's eyes widened. Taylor smiled sadly. "You treat me to all this pain, yet you are the most fragile person here." she said.

"Y-you don't know what you're talking about, Hebert." Emma said.

A phrase flashed in Taylor's mind. ' _Eyes, nose, mouth, or ears?_ ' An image of a van. Emma crying. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage- no, it would shatter Emma if she pushed it that way. Better to save that for a last resort. There was a way to fix this. Not now, but eventually.

"Yes, I do Emma." The crowd was beginning to quiet down, time to finish this up. "You're strong, you always have been. Now take a look at yourself and try to think like you used to."

With that, Taylor turned away, moving around Sophia and leaving. Emma made no move to follow. Once out of sight and in a bathroom, Taylor stumbled against the wall. A wave of vertigo washed over her, and black spots appeared in her eyes. "Ugh!" she grunted in pain, her migraine worse than anything she had felt before. She reached up only to find blood was now dripping from her nose. She must have hit her limit for a while. "Well, now I know not to push myself. That was still a lot more impressive than I thought. Three songs in one day?" she chuckled. "I'd better see if I can make that longer."

Taylor wiped the blood away, and staggered to her locker, gathering her stuff. After splashing some cold water on her face, she made her way to where her dad was picking her up.

"Hey sweetie!" Danny called. "How was your day?" he asked cheerfully, clearly trying to be positive after the mood she had been in the day before.

Taylor placed her backpack, safely containing new notes along with the ones from the day before. "All in all, I think I did really well today." she said after considering it for a bit.

* * *

 **So yeah, for those who don't know, Sophia wasn't a ward yet before September of 2010, so that'll be happening between this chapter and the next due to time skips. The time skips will be spaced out, with period of Taylor getting her gear together discreetly over the next months, and messing around with saving people, as well as a twist on some events, but you'll see that later. She simply needs to practice before going out, plus she has no gear at all.**

 **A side effect of Taylor's constant song use is that her emotions are easier for her to control, but the songs can change that rather easily... Think carefully about what song you reccomend.**

* * *

 **Song List:**

 **1\. Home - Undertale OST |** _Ambient Music_  
As an ambient song, it is localized in the area Taylor considers home, and will play whenever she is there. Fills her with a sense of comfort and determination.

 **2\. 7 Nation Army |** _Brute 6, Striker 4_  
Returns any hit dealt to her with twice the strength. Doesn't like to be held down. Very stubborn personality.

 **3\. Doki Doki Literature Club! OST Disc 1 - 01 Doki Doki Literature Club! |** _Ambient Music_  
As an ambient song, it has little effect, but allows Taylor to get a note of the situation as well as how the people act. Symbolizes Localized to Winslow High. The location tends to have events happening there that go unnoticed by most people, to the point of intentional ignorance.

 **4\. Intelligent Sounds - Flume |** _Thinker 7  
_ The user has enormous intelligence, and retains all information that she learned forever. Their eyes become electric blue, and flicker brighter as the user learns new information, signaling the knowledge will not be forgotten.

 **5\. Zelda Item Sound |** _Sound Effect_  
Congrats! It's a sound Effect! It does nothing! These pop up for comedic effect in non dangerous situations. Only Taylor can hear them for now until she gets her cape outfit going, as it will have speakers in the outfit.

 **6\. I Know You Too Well to Like You Anymore |** _Master 3, Thinker 4, Trump 2_  
Knows most everything about someone for a period of time. Long cooldown on the song, and only affects one person, rather than multiple items. Taylor is much more convincing, and also vindictive.


	4. Clef 1-4

**Musical Melodies: Clef 1.4**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Medley's weird powers.**

 **Songs:  
The powers are in more description at the end of the chapter.**

 **1.** **Alphys** **\- Undertale Soundtrack  
(**Randomly selected **)**

 **2.** **This Will Be The Day** **\- RWBY Soundtrack  
(**Inserted by me **)**

 **3.** **Neon** **Rainbow - RWBY Soundtrack  
(**Randomly Selected. **)**

 **4.** **Funhouse** **\- Pink  
(**Randomly Selected **)**

 **5.** **I Burn** **(Explicit Version) - RWBY Soundtrack  
(**Inserted by me. **)**

* * *

*Bang*

Taylor groaned in frustration as her head hit the desk. She had been trying to put together the device from her notes for ages, weeks, to be exact, but the pieces were too complicated. Her power had been going through multiple songs, but most of them didn't have the specific Tinker ability for the job. It was SUPER obnoxious as well, as her songs needed to play out fully before switching them, sometimes lasting hours. It seemed she could cut off the songs early and switch, but only a few times a day, so if she were in a fight and changed more than 3 times, the songs would have to play fully before a switch. The final note was that the song usually needed to match the setting or emotion at that moment in time. If she was happy, there wouldn't be a sad song. In a combat situation it made the possible songs very small, but it still was unpredictable despite all of that.

Speaking of weird, over the last few days, her hair had been growing longer than usual whenever she used her powers. At first she had freaked out, and tried to cut it, but it simply grew back rapidly over the next day. She eventually left it alone, and now kept it hanging in pigtails that went to her waist. At school she kept it hidden as well as she could, folded in a way to hide the extra length, which seemed to be doing good so far. When she used her powers though, her hair became _blue_ of all things. Yep, a light, softly glowing blue, and her eyes as well that seemed natural until she deactivated her powers.

If she asked for a specific ability, her power would hand her one that was close to what she asked, but not exactly what she needed. Most needed too many complex materials. Some were just stupid, or the power wasn't even Tinker. Seriously, why was there an ability to make anything out of _lemons?_ (She now had blueprints for combustible lemons that could be made in the future, if she ever found a reason to, that is). The thing that fascinated her the most about her power was the fact that the songs weren't from Earth Bet. Most of them she couldn't find online, and the rest shouldn't even come out for a few years. The idea was unbelievable, but undeniably happening.

She focused, activating her power one more time. ' _I need a Tinker ability._ ' she focused, and the power added a song to the queue. ' _Please be good..._ ' she prayed, not wanting something weird again. Slightly dopey music began playing as she mentally hit play. ( _Song 1_ ) A glow went over her body, and she looked down.

 **Alphys -** _Undertale Soundtrack_ | Tinker 4, Thinker 3, Brute 2

She gaped in shock.

She blinked. "WHAT THE HELL?" Taylor shouted. Taylor winced at her volume, waiting for her dad to come down the stairs. But no one came.

A few seconds later she examined herself more closely. Her skin had changed to a bright yellow covering of scales. She rubbed her arm, and shivered. It felt too weird to have a different skin texture. When she felt her hair, she gasped in outrage. Her glorious locks of hair had turned into scaly spikes, leaving her feeling bald. Growling, she checked the rest of her face to find she was still humanoid, but also had a tail. It was actually hard to notice the new appendage as it helped balance her so much that it felt natural.

She took a step and nearly fell over from her new lizard tail. What on Earth was she supposed to be? A yellow Leviathan or something? Well, only one way to find out.

Focusing on her powers, she glanced back at the mess of supplies on the table, and grinned. Success! The pile of stuff she had collected had looked like junk before, but now she could see multiple materials for the audio analyzer she planned to make, as well as some decent materials for the watch and her suit. This power seemed to be exactly what she needed for the time being, if you ignore the skin change. She loved how a lot of her powers, most of them really, changed her outfit/appearance. Now it would make hiding her true identity much easier. It wasn't too draining on her energy either.

Although she hadn't gotten good abilities over the last few weeks, she had experimented, and decided powers were bullshit. The songs that played were so _random!_ It could apparently play songs she didn't know, and half of them were stupid, the other half were too overpowered. She could request one _type_ of song per day, not even knowing its effects. Like a song about fixing things could make her a mover that can control cars, and the cars could fix themselves as they moved. She shivered at the thought of squealer having something like that.

She got one thinker ability and had begun scribbling information all over her notebook in horrible handwriting, like some conspiracy theorist. It was something about the apocalypse and Scion, but she dismissed it as crazy. (She saved the notes though, just in case), the next had set her on fire. Yep. Completely on fire, surrounded by blue flames. She had prevented anything from burning, but practiced in the basement after that.

She had also gained perfect recall at one point, and took the time to write out every event of bullying she had done to her, and stored in in her closet. Every day from now on, she decided, she would make a note of that day's attempted bullying for the record The day before had been relatively normal, and she had the power to change the color of whatever she touched. She had taken the time to make her clothes and other items she owned look nicer by changing to color to look nicer, and it even allowed some shirts to look like cotton rather than older wool.

Speaking of bullying, that first day at school with her powers had caused Emma to change. Not visibly, but Taylor had noticed Emma's taunts becoming less violent, although the amount of bullying didn't change at all. Sophia hadn't noticed, and Madison was too much of a ditz to actually care, so Taylor's powers were safe. On the other hand, Sophia was missing from school for a few days after Taylor had shoved her back, and came back extremely pissed. What worried her the most was that when she came back to school, Sophia hadn't harassed her at all, actually staying out of her way. Taylor was weary of the sudden personality change in Sophia, and decided to be extremely cautious.

At the moment, she gazed down at her skin and tail. It was rather strange to have a new limb, but she was too busy re-purposing the junk into the audio analyzer to test it out. She didn't quite know how it worked, but it involved a large amount of small chips with input from a headphones with some DIY infrared scanner, and displayed the song onto the Walkman screen that she used Bluetooth to hook up to. Her power gave her insights into other attachments to the Walkman, so she threw in a GPS and a call function. It pained her to put in a cell phone function, as that was the reason her mother died, but she needed a way to call the police, and it also helped that it was built into her headphones, so it wouldn't be likely to cause her to get into an accident while talking to someone. She also needed to make an outfit, which was not within her current power range.

She grabbed a watch from the pile, replacing the face with a holographic projection she hobbled together. She plugged a micro-usb port into the side, and stepped back. Both devices were non-functional, but that would be easy with the coding knowledge that came with this power. Lucky her.

 _**M-M**_

Taylor sat back and sighed it relief, her clawed hands stretching out the cramps that appeared after typing for so long so quickly. She unplugged the device once it was complete, the main Walkman themed CPU was hooked onto her waist, and she slipped on the watch. She slipped the backpack onto her back, and a whirring sound appeared with minor vibrations, and she grinned. The backpack was actually a Tinkertech speaker, which would play her music aloud when activated, causing her music to play from the air itself, like an invisible speaker in the sky. With a *bing*, the watch and headphones synced with the CPU, and it booted up.

Her song had been deteriorating more and more. She referred to the period of time when the song was becoming repetitive and boring 'deterioration', as her powers became less reliable the longer she kept using a deteriorating song. She glanced at the watch, feeling her headphones vibrate slightly as it scanned her Corona Pollentia. The watch flashed a loading symbol of her own design, which was a dark blue music note bouncing slowly in place as it recognized the song and displayed what it was. _[Thinker 3, Tinker 4, Brute 2]_

She tilted her head in surprise. She had expected the Tinker and Thinker abilities, but not the Brute. She flexed her claws, feeling strength in the small hands the was not apparent in her appearance and skills. Taylor had already remembered to make sure the device didn't count the aesthetic change she went through with some songs as a Changer power. A few seconds later and she coded in an archive where the device would keep track of each song played and how many times it had played before.

With a twirl, she turned to look at the dusty mirror on the wall. "T-that looks nice. I need a costume though." she stuttered, looking at her scaly form. Taylor groaned. "N-no! This form makes me nervous?! Why?! I haven't s-stuttered in years!" Taylor frowned, and stomped up the stairs, he tail dragging behind her.

"Fine, if I can't m-make one, then I'll go to someone who can!" she said to herself, remembering the name 'Parian' from the PHO forums. The scaled parahuman moved to go outside, then realized she still looked like a lizard. "But not looking like this!"

 _**M-M**_

Parian hummed softly, the needle flying back and forth across the fabric, cross-stitching and sewing a seam along the dress before her. It was a suit for one of her more questionable clients. She didn't mind though, so long as they paid and she wasn't caught in conflict. A bell rang, and Parian paused. "Just one minute!" she called softly. She quickly finished the stitch, and put away her instruments.

To her surprise, the figure at the waiting room was not one of her clients, but rather a short figure in a hoodie, with an unnatural bulge at the back of the cloak. "Hello? Who might you be?" Parian asked. The figure jumped, startled. "I-I'm looking f-for a cape outfit." a nervous female voice stuttered, clawed hands rubbing together anxiously. Glowing blue eyed flashed beneath the hood "I recently gained my p-powers and would like a way to hide m-my identity." They pulled open their cloak and Parian blinked in surprise.

"Well this is interesting." Parian murmured aloud, circling the reptilian creature. "Why would you want to hide your identity? You clearly are already not human, and no one could tell what your real identity is."

Thee reptile blinked, but nodded. She tapped on a high-tech watch on her scaled arm, and blue lights rippled across her headphones and backpack. Out of nowhere a slightly dopey song was playing. Parian listened for a few moments before realizing the song itself was very off key, sounding like it was slowing down.

"This is my power." The guest began. "My power creates m-music only I can hear, and I gain powers based on the song. I can generally control the type of powers I get, but the song is v-very unreliable, and might not do exactly what I want. F-for example, I made this speaker which takes my music and plays it aloud for everyone nearby to hear. I asked for a T-tinker power, and this is what I got. It worked, but I look like this. I cannot rely on my power to always make me l-look different."

Parian nodded. "The song sounds like it's dying down. Why is that? Don't worry, I will never give away my customer's secrets."

"W-well, the song deteriorates over time, and eventually I can't keep it up, and it crashes. I get an awful headache if that happens. I've been holding onto this power just to get here so I don't give away who I am or w-why I'm here." the girl winced, holding her head. "C-can I trust you to not give me away?"

Parian nodded, feeling bad for a customer in pain. "It's store policy. If I went around giving out identities then I would no longer be in business." She reached under the desk and handed over a domino mask to the cape.

The lizard person nodded in acceptance. The music slowly quieted, eventually stopping. The girl's form shimmered, her tail pulling in, and she rapidly became a tall teen with twin blue pigtails. The girl shivered, sighing in relief. With the hood over her head and the mask on her face, the cape's identity was unknown. "Oh that's much better." she sighed, rubbing her head to dispel her headache. "Hi, I'm Medley!" she said happily, holding out her hand to Parian.

 _**M-M**_

Taylor smiled happily now that her stutter and excruciating headache was gone. She grinned at Parian, who was inspecting her form with a critical eye.

"Well, this is easier to work with. Do you have ideas?" Parian asked.

Taylor shrugged. "I'm not good with clothing. I'd like it to be blue and themed with music."

Parian nodded, noting the points down on a pad of paper. "Any specific material?"

Taylor shrugged. "Durable, but comfortable. Hopefully able to take a few hits. My powers should cover the rest. Nothing latex. I have no clue how New Wave can wear that stuff.

"It helps when Panacea is on their team and can keep their bodies in perfect condition." Parian explained. She sketched an outfit onto a blank page and held it up. "Is this alright?" she asked. It was a blue themed outfit, slightly schoolgirl themed, but had a light blue tie with musical notes all over it. There was a skirt that had a gray lining on the inside and blue outside, the opposite of the blazer and vest above.

Taylor nodded. "Perfect! "I also want a way to put a speaker just over here." she gestured to the belly area. "I have a Tinkertech one at my house. Its dimensions are a diameter of 6" and a thickness of 1". I just need a pocket or something to hold it. Also it'll have to be pretty tough. I don't always get a physical power, and some tend to rip my clothes. Other than that I have no requests for now."

"Alright then. I should be done with it soon." Parian said, already using her power to move around materials. "Just pay me and we're all set."

Taylor froze. "Ah, well... I don't have cash."

Parian blinked slowly. "You... don't have any money?"

Taylor nodded, worried that an angry Parahuman was staring at her. "Buuuut, I do have a different item I can exchange."

"Oh?" Parian said, leaning forward, the light reflecting off of her porcelain mask.

Medley nodded, pulling a box out of her backpack. It was rather crude, a mesh of metal in a cube with blue glowing lights all over it. "Well since I've been a Tinker for the last few hours, I decided to make a large area barrier. This can be plugged in to a wall socket to charge. It takes 4 hours to charge fully if the cord is inserted properly, and when activated it creates a barrier around the entire building that will last until it runs out of power. Depending on the damage dealt to it, the barrier will hold for a very long time."

Parian blinked in surprise at what the small device could do. Taylor also pointed at the back. "There's also a minor dimensional pocket there. It's a 10'x10' dimensional space that only can be accessed through there. I made it so the user can store extra batteries or something in there for the main device. You could also keep stuff secret in there, as I doubt detection powers could sense it based on how it works."

"Splendid!" Parian said, grinning. "This is wonderful! Although I have many customers who want to keep me safe, sometime nearby fights get in the way, and my building gets hit. This will be very helpful. I'll have it done soon. Just hang around the area and come back in a little while."

 _**M-M**_

"Wow!" Taylor gasped at the outfit, admiring the expert skill in which it was formed. Although the skirt made her feel uncomfortable, she wouldn't be recognizable when wearing it, and that's all that mattered. She was shown a changing room by Parian, and she put on the costume. Parian insisted that she put other materials in the outfit, simply because the tinker device Taylor had paid with was worth much more than a simple outfit. So, the materials, while like cotton, was also laced with kevlar and another substance that made it much stronger. Parian had also made multiple copies of it 'in case one gets ruined in a fight', but those wouldn't be ready for a few days as she needed more materials. Taylor immediately tried turning down most of the improvements, saying Parian was too generous. The seamstress cape insisted, not taking no for an answer.

Taylor grinned, spinning in a circle and watched the edge of the skirt flutter. "So cool!" she grinned.

Parian chuckled softly, amused by the childlike joy that her client was showing. "If you don't mind me asking, what did you plan to do as a cape?"

Taylor turned in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, some capes use their powers for profit, or just to help people, not always through conflict." Parian explained.

Taylor shrugged. "I want to join a team. Perhaps the Wards, but I haven't gotten too much information about them, since I was a civilian and all." Taylor said, moving to the door.

Parian nodded. "Well, if you plan to wear that home, at least keep the domino mask, it will keep your identity hidden."

Taylor nodded. "Thanks! I'm not going home first though, I'm planning to go stop any crimes I find, and mess around with my powers a bit."

Parian nodded, waving at the departing cape. "Enjoy yourself!"

 _**M-M**_

With screeching tires, the huge car barreled down the road. There was the sound of something that sounded like the combined noise of radio static coming from a bank of speakers, an eighteen wheeler with the muffler off and an onrushing train. It wasn't just noise – the vehicle flickered with flashes of electricity and lights that people could probably see from anywhere downtown. Large cattle prods stuck out the sides, causing a buzzing noise and zapping random objects in the vicinity that the car got too close to. The vehicle itself was on tank treads, probably scrapped from the junkyard or something, and was the size of a small truck. Skidmark stood at the highest point with Squealer, gesturing wildly and listing directions as the mechanic Tinker drove.

Skidmark wore a mask that covered the top half of his face. The lower half was dark skinned, with badly chapped lips and teeth that looked more like shelled pistachio nuts than anything else. Squealer wore a very revealing outfit that was not flattering at all, her red-rimmed eyes further emphasising her lack of beauty. The two leaders of the Merchants decided that it would be a great idea to go on a joyride. Apparently they also thought it would be a fantastic idea to go downtown to rob some places. In broad daylight. Within five minutes of the Boardwalk. It wasn't their smartest idea, but definitely not the worst. Fortunately, the car had an invisibility function for getaway, but not at all for infiltration due to the sheer size and sound it made.

"Make a turn there babe!" The drugged out leader said. The car swerved, tank treads scrambling for a grip on the asphalt, and the tank truck swerved onto a street running parallel to the Boardwalk, but far enough away for the people over there to not be in danger. "Oi, waddya say we go take some fuckin'' jewelry babe? You could pick out something real nice." Skidmark said gleefully, noticing a jewelry store on the side the street.

"Anything you want, honey." the crack-addicted Squealer said. The contraption screeched to a stop, smashing in the side of a few cars. The moment it was safe enough to get out, Skidmark knocked on the side of the vehicle. "Get on out ya lazy fuckers, we don't got all day."

They marched into the store, and Skidmark fired a few shots into the air, his addled mind thinking it was an intimidating thing to do. In reality, he set off the alarm. Growling in frustration, he turned to the civilians inside. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, firing another shot. Everyone who was freaking out immediately froze, not wanting the Merchants to fire at them.

"This is how it's going to go. Ma boys and I are going to be taking the fucking jewelry and cash. After that, we will leave. But if any of you try to call the coppers, we'll shoot your fucking brains out." the blue masked cape shouted.

The people moved into the corners, away from the merchants, and the grunts moved them into corners, keeping the assorted firearms pointed at them. A few others moved to the display cases.

Skidmark looked on in satisfaction as the heist went smoothly, but a Merchant mook sidled over to him and coughed. "Uhhh, boss..." The grunt pointed at the cases, and Skidmark noticed a young girl by the front desk was still conversing quietly with the cowering cashier, pointing at something in the display case. The peculiar thing was that the girl had her hood up, and was ignoring the entire robbery.

"Hey, girlie, do you need something? We're trying to get into the cases here." Skidmark called, reaching for the girl. "If you don't move, I'll have my boys take you with us for some _fun_." the gang boss said creepily.

The teen stared at him with peculiar blue eyes. "Are you... robbing me?" she asked, as if it was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard.

"Uh, yeah" Squealer said, peering at the girl through her trashy makeup. "What's that you got on your back there?" Squealer said, noticing a blinking light under the jacket. The teen promptly shed the cloak, and grinned cockily at them. "My audio analyzer." A beep was heard, and the girl's watch flashed.

Skidmark paused at the strange sound, and flinched when he noticed that under the jacket and weird backpack, she had a domino mask on that was hidden by the edge of the hood. "Wha- aw hell no! We've got a fucking cape over here boys!" Skidmark called, still able to think clearly enough under the effects of his numerous drugs to recognize a threat.

 _**M-M**_

Medley grinned at how well the day was going. She had successfully gotten an outfit, which was rather cute. She had entered that store with her outfit covered by her jacket to go ask about the custom types of jewelry they could make, and was surprised to see the Merchants try to rob it. It was the perfect moment to try out her powers in actual combat. Even better, if she attracted enough attention, she might even get some popularity! Oh! Maybe even the PRT or Wards!

Her eyed flashed as her power spun, randomly grabbing a song in the Blaster category. She chuckled at the lyrics to the next song that her power had chosen. She mentally hit play. A flash of light appeared, blinding the enemy. She felt her outfit change from what Parian had handed her, into something of similar style, but different material. Her watch beeped as it recognized the next song.

 **This Will Be The Day - RWBY Soundtrack |** _Mover 4, Brute 2, Blaster 4, Changer 2_.

Her function on the watch to project the rating of her power into the air was deactivated, because she didn't want the _leader_ of one of the three gangs having any advantages. The idea of the projection was to intimidate her enemies with the rating of her powers, but it was toggleable, so harder enemies won't know her power.

With a red glow, her form shifted, and the thugs stepped back nervously. Her hair felt different, and she grabbed at it to see that it was now perfectly straight, only going to her shoulders with red dye streaks at the ends of it. He also noticed the arm holding the hair looked different, and then she realized her clothing and features had changed.

The outfit consisted of a long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the gray shirt was a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resemble the lacing on a corset. A red cloak with hood hung from her back, flowing in the breeze. She wears a red skirt with a large black print of a music note on the side and matching black tulle underneath. A faint grey pattern covered her skirt, similar to the piano keys on her normal costume. Her headphones was still there, now red but still fully functional. Her height was much shorter, and to her embarrassment, her chest was flatter. She looked like a twelve year old!

Medley let out a surprised squeak and blushed as she realized how revealing this... combat miniskirt was despite her shorter height. It was even smaller than the one Parian made for her! She was happy that she still had her hair and not scales, but this... outfit ( _Gothic Lolita dress, and a cute one too_ , the perverted part of her mind supplied) was not something she would ever wear willingly under normal circumstances. On the upside, she could still see the music theme in this one, there was a pattern like sheet music across the skirt, and her backpack had mixed with the waist, becoming a belt of some kind. On the back of the belt, a red metal case hung, clearly heavy but it didn't bother her. The other tech she had remained, although changed to match the color scheme.

Skidmark smiled at her lecherously. "What now little girl? Is your power simply to wear a skimpier outfit?" he snickered. "You aren't worth my time in a fight, but maybe if you came with us..." he licked his lips.

Medley pouted angrily. How dare this criminal make fun of her combat skirt! And he was being really creepy as well! Knowledge she didn't even recognize she had flooded her mind, and she readied herself for combat.

" _They see you as small and helpless; They see you as just a child. Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild._ " Taylor murmured, softly singing the lyrics, not at all surprised that she now knew the words to the song. She reached behind her and pulled out the heavy metal case that was hidden by her cape. "The fuck is that, you fucking brat?" Skidmark asked in surprise and some fear, not having noticed the item under her cape.

"I drink milk, you paedophile! I'm not a little girl either!" she shouted. With a loud click, she pulled a trigger in the mechshift weapon. A handle extended from one end, and the other end extended, allowing a scope to appear, and then a long tube popped out of the end, effectively turning it into a high caliber sniper rifle.

Skidmark flinched and dropped to his knees right as a glowing bullet shot over his head. He yelped and thrust out a hand and a violet barrier appeared between Medley and the Merchants. Medley recalled reading about his barriers on PHO, and they were a propulsion field that pushed anything that touched it in a predetermined direction. She fired at the leader, only for her bullet to lose speed dramatically as it hit the barrier, but still went through it with enough speed to hit the ground next to Skidmark. On impact, there was a _crack_ , and it richoched a few times before breaking into hundreds of pieces.

"Get out of here!" Skidmark shouted to the grunts, who grabbed as much as they could carry, rushing towards the front of the store.

 _This will be the day we've waited for.  
This will be the day we open up the door._

Medley aimed to the side, firing at a metal box that one crack-head was behind. The man had been moving to rush at Medley, so she focused on him. The bullet, whatever it was made of, clearly was stronger than metal, even when it was slowed by the barrier. A screech tore through the air as the bullet penetrated the metal box and the items within. It came out the other side and punctured the criminal's leg. He let out a cry of agony, and the others realized how little the boxes would help.

In response, they all turned and began firing at Medley, the bullets flying over the crouching civilians. Medley twirled to the side, and burst into a cloud of falling rose petals. The cloud moved, the bullets flying through it, and Medley reformed behind a marble display case. She turned to the side and shouted at the civilians to flee the area. They all began moving away, some of them pulling others along as they made their way out the back door. The merchants didn't bother stopping them, they were too busy defending themselves in the firefight.

 _I don't wanna hear your absolution;  
Hope you're ready for a revolution.  
Welcome to a world of new solutions.  
Welcome to a world of bloody evolution._

The barrier in front of her darkened, and her bullets began losing enough momentum to not actually hurt the Merchants. It seemed the barrier Skidmark had made either had gotten stronger, or he had made multiple barriers on top of one another. "Tch." She made a sound of annoyance, and leapt upwards over the barrier. In midair, her rifle started shifting, lengthening into an enormous scythe, over 7 feet long, with a razor sharp blade that was over three feet long. She spun it acrobatically, the sheer momentum creating a breeze. She laughed as she caught her reflection in the glass of a case. She looked like General Grievous from Star Wars, like the scene when he was spinning his lightsabers so fast nothing could get near him.

 _In time, your heart will open minds,  
A story will be told,  
And victory is in a simple soul._

Squealer tried shoving the blade to the side, but barely shifted the 50 pound weapon as it was stuck in the ground. "How can you even fucking hold that heavy thing?!" Squealer shouted shouted. Medley ignored them, using her speed to dart past the man who spoke, and spun her weapon in an arc. Medley thought quickly, realizing that permanently hurting her opponents was a bad idea, so aimed for disabling. The back end of the scythe cut a curving arc through the air, knocking away the thugs, who groaned as they hit the wall, definitely bruising some bones, maybe breaking a few. Not slowing down, she incapacitated a few others, taking out their legs and breaking their guns.

Two men opened fire with a pistol and a rifle, the bullets moving towards her faster than the average eye could see. With a burst of speed, she deflected both bullets, one of which nearly hit another man. The others quickly joined in, trying to overwhelm her. She began spinning Crescent Rose in circles, so fast that any bullets that tried to get by bounced back. As they all had been firing at the same time, they ran out of ammo at the same time.

Taking advantage of the moment, she swept forward, taking out the thugs rapidly, Skidmark moved, kicking her. The impact was much stronger than physics should have allowed it to be, meaning he had made another barrier on impact to improve his damage. She flew away, hitting the wall and actually going _through_ it to the outside street. To Medley's surprise, it didn't hurt at all. A red barrier flickered above her skin, much like Glory Girl had her invincibility shield. She felt more tired, meaning the barrier used up her endurance as energy, but overall she was fine. She swung the blade at Skidmark, aiming to trip him up as he moved away, attempting to get into the vehicle Squealer had made.

Skidmark growled in defiance, and grabbed a Merchant who was trying to run away. He gripped the man by his neck, and swung him around in the way of the moving scythe.

Now, Crescent Rose is a 50.53 lb weapon on its own. Medley has the capability to swing said weapon at high speeds, and momentum multiplied by mass is the force of an object. Add a sharp blade to one end of it and the victim of choice being a human with no defensive powers, things are going to get dirty.

*Thwack* With a clean movement, the thug's hand came off.

Silence.

Medley nearly dropped her weapon, staring in shock and horror as she gasped. The man looked at his hand, then at her, and then fainted with a gasp. Medley paled, appalled at what she had done. She shakily grabbed her weapon, and stood up. Her powers became unstable from her emotions, the song slowing down. She shook her head, ignoring the man for a moment, turning back to Skidmark. "Why would you do that?!" she shouted. "He was your man!"

"Oh well. Collateral damage, right babe?" Skidmark chuckled, dispelling the propulsion field he used.

' _It's not my fault._ ' she thought grimly, ejecting the negative thoughts from her mind just like all her other bad emotions. Her attention moved to her wrist as the watch beeped ' _And now my powers are running slower. The only thing I know for sure is that my next power is primarily a Mover. It would not be good if I get a weak power.'_ She sighed, making her decision. ' _I hope it's worth the risk._ ' A different song queued up. She felt her outfit change back to normal. Her clothing returned to the blue and grey themed costume Parian had made, and she grinned, stretching.

Right before she changed to her next power, she heard something that wasn't her power. It was like her songs, but from someone else. Didn't her journal from the Thinker power mention something about others having their own themes?

 **Glory Girl's Theme: Fabulous**

Something hit the ground next to her with a concussive impact.

 _**M-M**_

Victoria Dallon was currently having one of the worst days she'd experienced in a while. Amy was running herself ragged at the hospital, Dean was too busy with patrols to hang out., and her family weren't much help either. She sat despondently with an ice cream cone in hand on the Boardwalk, ignoring the stares she got when she floated slightly off of her chair. She spun around when a sudden explosion ripped through the air to see a cloud of smoke plume up a few blocks away. "What was that?!" someone shouted. The civilians around began making their way into stores for safely, knowing the streets weren't the safest place during a cape fight.

Vicky grinned. "Finally, something to do! I hope this can cheer me up." she took off towards the smoke, watching the figures run around below. It seemed the Merchants were raiding a jewelry store. Why? They were probably high again. She pulled out her cell phone and called the PRT. "Hey, it's Glory Girl, I'm reporting the merchants blowing up something in a Jewelry store on the intersection of 2nd and Beachside. They have one of Squealer's inventions." she reported.

"Alright, we'll send someone over to the scene. Is there anyone in immediate danger?" the receptionist asked. Vicky peered into the clearing smoke. "No, everyone seems fine, but- wait, what?"

Her eyes widened when she saw Skidmark and Squealer herself stumble out of the building, followed by an unknown cape, obscured by the smoke. The newcomer had some kind of huge blade in their hands, and swung it swiftly at someone. She couldn't see exactly what happened, but next thing she knew a man was on the floor screaming with his hand cut off. Then the cape began glowing, which was probably really bad.

"Squealer and Skidmark themselves are here with a new cape. I'm going in!" She shouted. The receptionist tried to say something, but Vicky had hung up. She frowned as she recalled her mother's words. ' _Don't deal with the bigger capes, that is the job of the Protectorate and of the more experienced members of New Wave. It is up to you and the Wards to deal with smaller capes who aren't as powerful so it makes our job easier, okay?_ ' Vicky rolled her eyes at her mom's overprotective approach. "Fine, mom." she muttered to herself. "If I can't take out Squealer and Skidmark, then how about this new cape? They did hurt someone pretty bad, so they can't be good, right?" she reasoned. With a loud impact, she fell to the ground, pulling off a superhero landing.

The smoke was blown away by the speed of her descent, and they could see a teen in a unique superhero outfit, styled in blues and grays, many Merchants in dissaray behind her. She was off balance from their sudden landing, and was knocked onto her but with her backpack making an ear piercing _crunch_.

"Stop right there villains! I, Glory Girl, am he-" she was saying.

Before she could finish her speech, the cape stalked up to them in anger, holding up a damaged Tinkertech backpack and some kind of headphones.

"What the heck?!" she shouted, storming over to them. "You damaged my stuff!"

Victoria, now in her Glory Girl persona, floated upwards slightly, her aura flowing unconsciously in response to the challenge. "And? You destroyed this place!"

The cape ignored him, holding the object like Armsmaster would with his Halberd. "It took me weeks to build this! This was my first time out as a cape, and because of you, my stuff is broken!" A roaring engine could be heard, and they turned to see Squealer's car roar away, the merchants escaping with plenty of jewelry.

"And now they're getting away!" she tried moving to go after the vehicle.

Vicky stepped forward, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. She seemed really upset. Vicky decided to channel her inner Gallant. "I'm sorry miss, but you can't leave, this is a crime scene and you need to come in to give a report." That was a bad idea.

The cape spluttered. "A repo- Really?! Now _you_ of all people follow protocol, right when I could catch them?" Vicky stared at the furious cape in surprise. "You know what, screw this, I'm going." She smacked the broken device a few times, and her watch/phone thing booted up with a beep. "Good, at least _this_ still works." She turned to run after the Merchants.

"Nope." Vicky said forcefully, landing in the way of the cape. "You caused damage to public property, and severely harmed someone. I'd say that's enough damage for some kind of legal charge."

The blue haired girl stared in utter confusion. "Really? You really want to stop me?" Vicky readied herself for a fight. On the inside she was ecstatic that she'd actually get a fight for once. "Fine then. Bring it!" The music cape said. She displayed pure determination, facing down a brute that could kill her in an instant if she felt like it. The cape tilted her head in a strange movement, like she was listening to something, a movement she probably didn't realize she was doing. Vicky moved into a fighting stance.

Her watch lit up, and she read something off of the screen. "Hey, this one isn't half bad." the new cape gasped in surprise. "Mover _5_?"

 **Neon - RWBY Vol.3 Soundtrack |** _Mover 5, Brute 3, Shaker 2_

Glory Girl had about a second to make sense of the random classification being thrown out before she heard a jazzy tune start playing out of nowhere. The audio sounded like she had headphones on, but there was nothing on her head to produce the sound. ' _A shaker ability_?' She was distracted by a burst of light, the cape's form flashing brightly before her eyes. Blinking as the light faded, Vicky stared at the girl's new appearance.

She was now wearing an interesting rainbow outfit that clashed horribly with Vicky's fashion sense. Her outfit had a large range of bright colors. She wore a light blue cropped tank top on top of a dark purple bra, dark purple short shorts under a pink combat mini-skirt and white belt with a yellow winking smiley face on the buckle. Two buttons were fixed to her tank top above her right breast, one purple with a music note design and another green one with a cat. The most unique feature was her cat ears upon her head and her striped tail that extended from right above her waistline.

She also had a white cat bell collar around her neck, a pair of bracers on her arms and pads on her shins and knees. She wore red roller blades, which she also used to move around. A tattoo of a shooting star with a red, green and yellow trail wound around her right arm. She stood there, rocking back and forth on her roller skates, facing them. "Still going to stop me? I thought you guys were smarter than that." she asked snidely.

 _**M-M**_

Medley glared at the two capes, daring them to stop her. Unfortunately, they moved forward to do just that. Glory Girl flew in front of her, and Medley eyed the girl's perfect form in jealousy. Why couldn't _she_ look like that? No wonder Emma and- No, that was all Glory Girl's powers. Her aura was really annoying, messing with her head, making her _scared_. She hated it.

She shook her head, trying to stay on topic. They ruined everything! Now how would she ever be noticed by the big leagues? No, she couldn't be scared, she had powers now, she had no reason to be scared. ' _Just put up a front of confidence, and it will be cool_.'

"Oh man, I wasn't expecting Glory Girl herself! Look alive, Collateral Damage Barbie's entered the stage!" she giggled, spinning lazily in a circle around the glaring blonde parahuman. "Do you honestly think you could just land wherever you want because you're a cape? You could've killed me if you were a bit to the right!"

The song she could hear from Glory Girl was really annoying her. She pushed her volume up, activating the next powerset, and overwhelming Glory Girl's Theme.

She laughed as she read the classifications off of the watch.

"Who are you?" Glory Girl asked in anger.

"Who are you?" Medley mimicked Glory Girl with a snobby, whining tone of voice. "That's what you sound like right now. I thought I was going to get attention from the big leagues because, you know, it was the _Leader of the_ Merchants was here? Not some little spoiled girl who's mommy is her boss. What, going to be grounded if you mess up? And the name's Medley by the way. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but it's really not."

"What the heck is that music?" Vicky asked, still trying to locate the source of the sound.

"I come with a built in theme song, it's kinda my thing. Try to keep up." Medley giggled.

 _We're all born with a dream  
We wanna make come true  
The best will climb to the top like me  
The rest will end up like you_

She may have been a _little_ too harsh with the blonde cape, but she really needed to vent her emotions a bit, and a supposedly indestructible girl was a decent target.

The New Wave cape pointed at Medley. "Shut up..." Glory Girl growled. Ooh, someone was touchy.

The skater frowned at the rude tone. Medley grinned as the negative thoughts left her hyperactive mind, forced out by her power's side effect, which supplied a positive view on everything that had happened.

She grinned salaciously. Her powers were so much FUN! The rainbows rocked, and the cat ears were kinda cute! Since she had her victory stolen by Glory Girl, now she could actually have fun fighting someone and not while stopping a robbery! Despite the fact she had injured a grunt, he would be fine soon! There were plenty of healers in Brockton Bay! Othala, Panacea, and there would probably be someone else as well. "That's why healing exists, _duh_." Medley said in a tone that insinuated Vicky was an idiot. "Panacea is your sister, so you would know all about that." Glory Girl spluttered for a second. Taylor chuckled at her expression. It looked like she was really not enjoying the lyrics to this song.

 _I bet it's hard to live with  
Knowing that you'll never be this fine  
Don't be distraught don't be sad  
You gave it your best try_

"You should try roller skating sometime, you know? It's really fun." Medley said, changing topics randomly. "Oh, but it would be hard for you, since you're so _top heavy_." Medley said before Glory Girl could argue back, gesturing at her own chest for emphasis. She giggled at the spandex wearing hero, who looked down at her own rather developed chest in outrage. "I guess that's why you fly so much, huh? Don't have to deal with the weight, or fall over like a ditz?"

Glory Girl had heard enough, and roared in anger, her aura lashing outward. "That's it!" She leapt at the rainbow themed opponent, punching at Medley's face. The girl laughed in response and did a flip backwards, right under the punch. Using her skates, she slid underneath Glory Girl, allowing the cape to fly by and almost hit the building, stopping at the last second.

Unbeknownst to the capes, Glory Girl's aura was affecting them more in her rage, enforcing both of their fight or flight instincts, making it harder for either to give up. Medley giggled and spun the weapon around like a baton. She raised the item, twirling it around easily. It was now apparent that the weapon was a pair of colorful glow-stick nunchucks, all glowing green with silver caps at both ends.

She swung them at Glory Girl, the ends twirling rapidly. The wind picked up, and eventually growing into a strong whirlwind that was pushing the Brute cape backwards for a brief moment. She dodged to the side as Glory Girl flew by again, missing a second time. "Olé!" Medley called happily, smacking the flying girl with her weapon as she went by. A burst of wind came from above with the blow, slamming Vicky into the ground.

 _Listen, girlfriend...can't you see?  
I'm all of the things that you'll never be  
I'm cool like the rain and I'm hot like the sun  
I'm a neon rainbow and you're no fun_

Vicky growled, grabbing a nearby bench and launching it at the cheerful cape.

Medley twirled out of the way of the projectile, her weapon striking it with enough force to push it away, preventing it from striking the stores nearby. A rainbow following in her wake as she skated, all the while repeating a mantra under her breath. "Never miss a beat, never miss a beat."

Her powers seemed to mute Glory Girl's oppressive aura, negating the fear/awe effects with cheerfulness, although the effort put a decent strain on her song. When she nearly got hit, she lost concentration, disrupting her powers more than it could handle, and the music would stutter slightly. Vicky flew past, growing more and more outraged, missing, but turned on a dime in the air to smack at Medley. Medley skidded back a fair distance, but caught her balance. She looked down to see that she had a force field over her body with this song as well, just like the last one. "Cool, you're so strong! A bit touchy about your weight though..." She skated forward, faster than Vicky could turn, and smacked the floating cape with her nunchaku.

The impact impacted with some kind of kinetic effect, pushing back Glory Girl more than physics should have dictated. "Ooh, I love this weapon! I wonder what happens if it hits your invincibility field!" She twirled it acrobatically, and the color of the glow stick nunchaku changed to red, the next few hits on Glory girl created explosions as they hit, singeing Vicky's hair, and ruining her outfit, but not harming her at all thanks to the forcefield. Glory Girl smiled harshly, ducking another attack from Medley. The floating cape finally moved back a bit, and grabbed a street lamp from the ground. "Batter up!" she cried.

 _May be time to retreat  
You need a diva review  
You can see I never miss a beat  
Your makeover's long overdue_

 _Just try to understand this  
It's not that I am trying to outshine  
You've got your inner beauty  
We can't all be divine_

Vicky swung the street lamp in an arc. Medley flipped over it, not at all concerned. With a mischievous grin, the nunchaku changed color again, shifting to yellow. With a burst of rainbow colored speed, Medley struck Glory Girl, moving behind the powerhouse cape before she could react. Previously her attacks didn't hurt the mini Alexandria, but this time the impact seemed to shatter an invisible shield, and _then_ lightning burst from her weapon, shocking the startled teen violently. The girl fell to the ground in pain, unable to stand properly and Medley laughed in surprise. A furious fist shot towards the skating cape, but was easily blocked with white nunchaku. The color of the chained weapon changed again, now light blue, and giving off mist. It thudded into Glory Girl's lower leg, not stopped as Vicky's personal force field was still out of charge.

Ice spread from the impact site, holding Glory Girl to the ground by her legs.

"Wow, now you're bottom heavy too!" Medley said gleefully, slapping her own ass to show what she meant as she skated away.

Now Glory Girl was _pissed._ She burst from the ground, her aura flaring out more, practically overpowering Medley's own power fueled glee. Her headphones flickered, the music skipping a beat from her emotions changing. The music sped up, deteriorating slightly from her discomfort around Glory Girl's aura. A flurry of punches and kicks came from the New Wave cape, and Medley bobbed and weaved under and around every one, her music still going strong.

"Hah! Is this all you got, Blondie?" Medley called.

 _**M-M**_

Gallant stared at the digital screen before him as the PRT truck raced through the downtown. When the alert had come in from Vicky, he had figured she would be fine. When the report that Skidmark and Squealer were there with a New Cape, he assumed she might be in a bit of trouble. Then they heard the cape was holding her own against Vicky, and may even be winning. This caused an emergency conference with Piggot and Miss Militia. They eventually decided to send in the Wards for experience with Miss Militia following quietly. It was both a training and an actual situation. Unfortunately, only Gallant was immediately on duty, the other Wards were at Immaculata for a PR event. He volunteered to stay behind with Vista, who was working the monitor this time. He was the first one sent, the others would be delayed by at least seven minutes. Miss Militia was on the way too, but was keeping an eye on him through cameras.

Gallant kept an eye on her opponent as they fought, noting their opponent's irregularities. Her powerset was completely unusual, but could easily be explained as some kind of Breaker, which was his best bet alongside Trump. The last thing they need is a new Eidolon. The Changer ability seemed to follow what her power was. At the moment, her nunchucks seemed to have different effects based on color. They arrived at the fight, but Gallant held back to get a feel for the cape's fighting style before moving in. He noticed something was wrong with her emotions.

They seemed were especially crucial to this new cape's power base, the song dipping out of control whenever Vicky's emotional aura in full effect. Speaking of emotions, something seemed weird about Medley's emotions. They at first seemed to be slight envy and _overwhelming_ excitement, but underneath the concealing layer there was a visible pitch black hate and blue sadness, like a bruise. IT reminded him of veterans with PTSD or some other trauma. Whatever it was, if her emotions were to get out of control, it could be bad for everyone.

"Oof!" Medley exclaimed, taking a hit in the chest. Glory Girl smiled a bit, but frowned as Medley seemed to shake it off quickly. Grinning in excitement, Medley charged, and began a flurry of explosive blows into Glory Girl's chest with the red nunchucks. With a cry, the blonde's force field shattered, and then the explosions hit, and she was flung backwards into a wall. The bricks cracked, and she did not rise.

"VICKY!" he roared. He leapt out of the truck, feeling the familiar rush of Vicky's aura as he grew near. The truck pulled away, heading back to get the other Wards. Her emotions had to be running high for the aura to even affect him in the slightest. Raising his arm, he fired multiple shots without restraint, but wildly missed.

"That's it? Man, you guys are weak, I'm only one cape. I mean, c'mon! My powers are even new to me!" she complained. She turned to Gallant, focusing on dodging his shots.

With sound from the surrounding brick, Vicky stumbled forward and shook her head slightly, disoriented from the blow. "Man, you hit hard. Those explosions are BS though."

"Ooh, looks like you can take a hit!" Medley giggled. Suddenly Glory Girl shot forward faster than before, pinning Medley before she could react.

"Still having fun?!" Glory Girl asked sarcastically. She pulled back a fist, ready to clock the girl in the face.

Medley stared at the fist in slight fear. Then she chuckled. "Yup."

 _*Beep*_

 **Funhouse by Pink |** _Shaker 3, Mover 2, Master 5, Thinker 3_

And then there were six Medleys.

 _**M-M**_

Taylor gave a heaving sigh of relief when the song changed. She wasn't sure if she could force skip the song during combat, but it was good to know that she could. If she hadn't, the results of Glory Girl's punch would've been messy. The cost of doing it, however, was a slight headache. Nothing major, but it would be irritating for a while. She looked down to see any changes. There was no clothing change, no tail or anything. Simply nothing. Then she nearly stumbled with vertigo as her vision split into fractals.

"Woah." she said, her voice echoing. "Wait, what?" She could suddenly see... herself? No, she had multiple copies of herself? Yeah, that sounded right. She could see and feel all of them at once, which was a trip.

From what she could tell, they were made of the materials in her surrounding environment, like they grew from the ground. One was all white, made of... plastic? There were five other copies of herself. From left to right, she recognized the materials in her mind: Silver from a ring that was blown out from the jewelry store, Concrete from the ground, Steel from the building, Glass from a case, Copper from the electrical wiring, and Asphalt from the ground.

"Cool!" they echoed, facing each other. "Let's see what we can do!" Asphalt said.

"Alright!" They cheered. Gallant had been a surprise, but at least the other Wards hadn't shown up.

With smiles on their faces, the more durable bodies charged forward. Glass backed up, moving under cover with Plastic, observing the battlefield.

"Ragh!" Concrete roared, swinging at Glory Girl. The fist slammed into her body, knocking it backwards a few feet, but there was no effect otherwise.

Vicky stared at the figure. Then she sneered. "Look who's bottom heavy now." Leaping forward, she shattered the rock clone's arm, cracks running down the side of its chest.

Reeling back, Concrete dodged another blow, with Asphalt coming from the side to hit a blow. She blocked his swing with a single arm, ignoring him completely. "Good thing this doesn't hurt." it said, the dent in the arm not fazing the cape at all.

Vicky grinned back. "Good."

Copper and Silver were focusing their efforts on Gallant, Copper's arm in the shape of a club and Silver's arm as a thin blade, like a rapier. Gallant was dodging their blows, laying blasts of light on them, which seemed to have little to no effect on their material bodies.

The body doubles seemed to be moving too easily, seeing attacks ahead of time. Gallant realized that Glass and Plastic were somehow communicating what they could see to the others. ' _Some kind of mind sync? Would make sense, they are one person..._ ' he thought.

He avoided a swing from copper and kicked its legs, knocking it down. _Bong..._ The body must have been hollow, and it sounded like a bell when it hit the ground. "Glory Girl, focus on the two weaker ones over there!" he said, pointing at the two clones that were hiding. She nodded, kicking Concrete into many pieces. She maneuvered towards the strategists, smiling when she saw them run.

"Gotcha!" she called, outflying the two heavier clones behind her.

"No!" cried Plastic, taking a hit that cracked her body in half. She tried to move, but laying on the ground prevented it from getting up. Gallant shivered for a second then realized she wasn't in pain, despite her lower half being severed.

Glory Girl turned to the Glass Medley and moved forward. "Any last words?" she asked, pulling back an arm.

The cape just stared at her. "Your loss." The arm came down with an enormous crack. Then silence.

"Owowowow! That fucking stings!" Vicky cried out. Her hand had gone bright red, and slightly swollen. ' _Definitely dislocated_.' she realized. "What happened?" Vicky asked in confusion.

Glass began laughing. "You dislocated your hand? Man, I thought you would have realized." Glass chuckled. "I'm not actually made of glass."

Glory Girl stared at her in shock. "I'm Diamond!" the now named Diamond exclaimed happily. "Pretty cool, huh? Looks like you weren't thinking... _again_."

Gallant stared in surprise at the twist. "Diamond?!" he yelped, dodging a blow from Concrete, who had gone after him when Glory Girl moved away. "There wasn't enough of that in the store to form you!"

Copper nodded. "So? We're formed by powers. Don't ask questions about mass when you have Tinkers that can fit ten weapons into one."

Gallant cursed, dodging again.

"You know, I used to look up to you guys..." Diamond explained, slowly moving forward. Glory Girl moved with her, suddenly dodging as she swung a fist forward. "I thought you were infallible. But I see know. You're hot-headed, too ready to fight. You have issues, Gallant is too compliant and cares too much for you, which got him into this fight rather than simply letting me go or calling waiting for backup. I figure he came with help, but they haven't interfered for some reason. Don't get me started on how anyone you capture escapes in a few days, tops. You guys seriously think you can win this? It's stupid. Not to mention that the PRT let Shadow Stalker into the Wards. Seriously, everyone on PHO knows she has a body count." She tilted her head in thought as she ranted. After dodging another furious swing from Glory Girl she sighed. "I've made a decision."

Gallant gulped. "What?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm not going to join the Wards. I think I'll be an independent cape."

Gallant stared at her in shock. She decided to not join the Wards simply because of their actions? He was stunned, realizing how much he had messed up. The whole point of the Wards was to be welcoming, not getting into combat, and a safe place for new capes. He was about to speak up, but a wave of Glory Girl's aura hit him, and his mind blanked briefly. What was he thinking about again? He shook his head, looking at the situation. Vicky needed his help!

Medley continued, not realizing the immensity of the statement she had announced in front of a small crowd. "I was thinking about it earlier, but you made three strikes. First," she ticked a finger. "You didn't really care who I was, simply arresting me because I cut off a guy's hand, which was an accident, and was thrown through a wall, which was caused by the cape you let get away. Seriously, what happened to innocent until proven guilty? Second," she ticked another finger. "Didn't let the adults handle it. I'd have been willing to bet that Armsmaster or Miss Militia could have handled the situation peacefully. Not only that, but you interfered while mostly not in costume, which also seems like a dick move. I mean, Gallant has a helmet on. Don't you have rules or something for that? It's not even fair for me, who is here to specifically stop criminals. You don't care about the rules, Miss Collateral Damage Barbie." Glory Girl had stopped listening, growing more pissed as this... upstart claimed _she_ was in the wrong. She was Glory Girl of New Wave! When was she the bad guy?

"Third," she ticked a final finger. "You're still fighting despite knowing you're doing the wrong thing. Well, you know what they say: Bummer. Three strikes and you're out." The clones all charged at once. Glory Girl whipped her head under Diamond's bone shattering punch, the clone stumbling forward as she overshot her target. She grabbed the clone's arm and they grappled, trying to force the other into the ground. The pressure popped her wrist back into place, and she winced.

Gallant finally was making an effect on the clones, a condensed beam of sadness was focused on Copper and Silver, their forms unable to move. ' _So they could share thoughts and general emotions but had different personalities? That's an interesting counter to my abilities._ ' He considered.

Concrete hobbled over to Glory Girl, Asphalt running with them. She glanced over, snarling in frustration. She grabbed Diamond in a chokehold and leapt into the sky, holding the dense figure tightly. "So long as one of you is left then you can reform properly, right?" she growled, going straight up hundreds of feet in a few seconds, then turned around and sped straight down. Diamond's eyes widened in shock, realizing what was going to happen. She cried out in surprise, unable to escape.

At the last second, Glory Girl let go and stopped abruptly in midair, saving herself. Diamond was another matter. She hit the ground at ridiculous speeds, cratering the street, and her limbs turning to dust. Her face was one of the few things that was whole. There were not enough pieces of her left to get back up.

Glory Girl turned to the final clones, Asphalt being the last one undamaged. "Having fun?" it asked, stretching a bit.

"Winning is fun." Glory Girl said.

Asphalt nodded, and glanced at her watch. "Well, I suppose I should win this then, huh? It is my debut, after all. I probably won't get away from you otherwise."

Suddenly, Copper and Silver vanished, their bodies shimmering away. The other constructs began to dissapear as well. Then she glanced at her watch and Glory Girl realized what was going to happen. "Aw shi-"

 _**M-M**_

 **I Burn - RWBY Vol.1 Soundtrack |** _Brute 5, Blaster 2, Shaker 1_

Medley smiled, her form glowing as the next song roared to life. "Hell. Yes." She was covered in a golden light again. She felt her confidence rise. Simply reading the lyrics made her feel more confident, and she grinned victoriously.

Medley's hair changed to a bright gold color, shining brightly in the sunlight. Her outfit turned into a tan jacket with a bare midriff, along with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Her emblem was on an undershirt under the jacket, over her heart. Her belt has shotgun shells lined up on it, all slightly unusual in color. Gauntlets were equipped on both arms, clearly more advanced than just simple armor. She stumbled for a second once the change was complete, and blood dripped from her nose, but she wiped it away with nary a thought. ' _I must be overdoing it. That many songs is more than I've ever used in this quick of a succession._ '

With a flexing of her arms, they extended slightly, cocking like a gun. Glory Girl readied herself, Gallant charging his powers up. Music began.

 _Come at me,  
And you'll see,  
I'm more than meets the eye.  
You think that,  
You'll break me,  
You're gonna find in time,  
You're standing too close to a flame that's burning.  
Hotter than the sun in the middle of July.  
Sending out your army, but you still can't win;  
Listen up, silly boy, 'cuz I'm gonna tell you why..._

 _Boom_. With a blast, Medley launched forward, the explosion from her gauntlets sending her flying at Glory Girl. Her arm reared back, ready to land a punch. Glory Girl was ready, and punched back at the same time. They hit each other's faces, flying backwards. Her gauntlets had gone off, propelling Glory Girl back more than she had been hit with that punch.

She twisted and kept running, using the momentum to focus Gallant. He seemed to pale, and fired a shot in an attempt to protect himself. The shot was deep red, and her eyes widened. It hit, and she felt... angry. Eyes glowing red, Medley grinned as flames appeared along her body. The ground began melting as her head increased.

 _I burn!  
Can't hold me now,  
You got nothing that can stop me.  
I burn!  
Swing all you want.  
Like a fever I will take you down._

He backed up, and she strolled forward, bopping his head harshly. The hit immediately knocked him out, not to mention the overwhelming heat that was probably lightly burning him. She turned to Glory Girl, who was now glaring bloody murder. Medley cocked an arm back, feeling her gauntlets click a few times, and punched the air. Flares launched out, targeting Glory Girl. She flew out of the way, immediately launching back at Medley with fury.

 _Reign supreme?  
In your dreams;  
You'll never make me bow.  
Kick my ass?  
I'm world-class,  
And Super Saiyan now._

They began trading blows, dodging every now and then, Medley to conserve her shield's energy, Glory Girl to avoid her explosive punches. "Why. Won't. You. Just. STAY. DOWN." Glory Girl shouted. Medley cocked a smile. "I'm just that good." she laughed back.

 _You're starting up a fight that you just can't finish;  
Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor.  
Bringing out your rockets? Well, shoot 'em up, baby,  
High as you can go, but I'm the one who's gonna soar._

"Aww, need your mommy to calm you down? Maybe your sister to patch you up, maybe help you keep your figure in perfect form?" At this point the insults were pointless, but she felt good. ' _Since when did I like fighting so much?_ ' she pondered. ' _Hmm... Who cares, this fight was actually fun!_ ' Yeah, it had sucked with that last power when she had nearly lost, but now she actually had an opponent that she could use her anger on and not hurt them too badly.

 _Hotter than the sun,  
Feel my fire;  
Pyromaniac: my desire.  
Thought that you could see the truth,  
'Til I just burned down the booth.  
Human Torch can't fuck with me;  
Johnny Blaze: Suspect B.  
Strike 'em quick, lightning fast;  
Melt them bitches down to ash._

Pause. Recover. Attack again. Repeat. A kick to her stomach sent her stumbling. A punch to Glory Girl's hip clipped the New Wave brute and sent her flying. Gallant launched some kind of emotion into her back, having woken up briefly. She chuckled at it. Was that supposed to be _happiness?_ That was like Pavlov's dogs, but with teaching a cape that fighting others was fun. If he thought this would help win, he should have never shown up.

 _Gasoline, kerosene;  
Strike the match, ignite the scene.  
Shit will never be the same;  
Feel the fury of my flame.  
Beg for mercy: it won't help;  
Embrace the ending you were dealt.  
Seems you fucks will never learn;  
Now sit back and watch me burn._

They ran at each other, both pushing their limits and completely exhausted. Glory Girl's aura was out, and her shield was almost wasted. Medley was looking much better, but her protective field sapped her stamina for energy, and she was almost passing out.

 _I burn!  
Can't hold me now,  
You got nothing that can stop me.  
I burn!  
Swing all you want,  
Like a fever I will take you down._

With a final strike, pushing her limits, Medley slammed her fist into the cape's chin before she could react, and she stumbled back. With a final groan, Glory Girl fell to the ground and passed out.

She stood there, breathing heavily with a trickle of blood running from her nose. With a crackling beep her watch signaled her power turned down, enough to return her hair to blue but it also turned off the music. A smile broke out. "I, *pant* did it! Haha!" she laughed. She stared at the unconscious forms. "Well, I hope you learned your lesson." she turned to the side to see a gaggle of civilians with camera's out. She paled, then paused. "Heh, what the heck..." She waved to them, getting a mixed reaction. They seemed to both love her and hate her. Such is the opinions of the PHO boards. She glanced at the unconscious capes again. Did anyone actually call the PRT to let them know what happened? Probably not, from what she saw. Wait...

Thirty seconds later she was pulling out a phone from Glory Girl's pocket. It was rather awkward feeling for the phone's location, but she managed to get it out of the skintight pocket. The screen was cracked, the phone barely working. The phone had a password, but the call function was unlocked, probably for a situation similar to this. She used the quick-dial #1, which was marked 'PRT'. To her surprise, they picked up immediately.

"Armsmaster speaking." a gruff voice said. "Gallant, what's the situation? Miss Militia is on the way."

Medley stared at the phone in shock. Armsmaster himself answered?! The Wards must be able to skip the front desk when they call. Too bad she had already announced her independence. "Gallant?" he repeated. "Gallant, Report!"

"Um, hello?" she said nervously, her anti-social tendencies kicking in. Who could blame her? It was _Armsmaster_! She had his face on her underwear! Actually, that was less cool when she actually thought about it. There was no longer any song running to keep her powers going, and no emotional boost of confidence either, so she had no idea what to do.

"Who is this?" the man asked sharply. "What are you doing with a Ward's phone? What happened to Gallant?!"

She gulped, then began speaking. "Well, my cape name is Medley, and, well, um, Glory Girl and Gallant are unconscious."

"You are the one who they were facing? Harming a member of the PRT is illegal, and doing so to the Wards is more severe. Tell me what happened right now!" he asked, not as a question, but rather an order. She wrinkled her nose at his tone. This wasn't what she expected him to say at all.

"I was fighting Skidmark and Squealer by the boardwalk and then they were getting away, but then Gallant and Glory Girl showed up, and they tried to stop me since I was on the scene, but I really wanted to catch the Merchants, so I said no and tried to leave, and then they attacked me when I got mad." she said in one breath.

There was silence. A voice murmured in the background, and sounds of paperwork shuffled frantically by multiple other people. "It appears you won the engagement?"

"Er, yeah." she said self-consciously.

More silence. "A PRT vehicle is on the way. You now have multiple charges on you for attacking a Wards cape, and more because one was New Wave. Please remain in the area until they arrive. It will be easier for you if you don't flee."

Medley was silent. Yeah, fuck that. Her day was going good, then this happened. If they had her on video and knew she was fighting them, they'd know she hadn't started the fight. If they wouldn't listen and just wanted to cover their precious Wards, then screw them!

"Mhm. I'm gonna have to say no to that. You see, today was my debut as a cape. I almost took out the Merchants single handedly and would have gladly joined the Wards, but due to their decisions and all of your actions today, I think not. Maybe sometime in the future, but today's a major no. I was only calling to let you know. You trying to arrest me is the final nail in the coffin you guys built around me. See you, I guess..." she clicked the phone off, hanging up on Armsmaster, who was trying to say something.

She placed the phone back on the cape, and propped them up against a wall. "Sorry it had to come to this." she said to the unconscious couple.

She strolled away without looking back, blue hair flowing in the breeze. She turned the corner, and she was gone before anyone could follow her.

 _**M-M**_

Dean awoke to see a tall man in power armor standing over him with a halberd in one hand. He stared at the figure, unable to see well with the glare of the sunlight. Who was this again? Oh, Armsmaster, that's right. What happened? His body felt like Shadow Stalker used him as a sparring partner again with no restrictions. He glanced to the side to see Vicky unconscious on a stretcher.

"-allant, can you hear me?" a voice said. He turned his attention to the voice, his mind trying to catch up.

"I asked you a question, Gallant." Armsmaster said, breaking him from his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked woozily.

"Why were you fighting? You broke _dozens_ of explicitly instructed cape interaction protocols. This was an unprecedented event, you have never done such a thing. We're _this_ close to calling M/S containment. You have one minute."

Dean tried to focus, he really did, but nothing came to mind. He winced as a headache began forming behind his eyes "I-I don't know, sir... That sounds like a stupid idea."

"Well then, can you explain why were you still engaging as long as you did? Why did you even start the fight in the first place?" Armsmaster asked.

"I... don't know. We went to confront her, and I tried to prevent a fight. Vicky- I mean Glory Girl began to... to..." Dean said, confused.

"What did Glory Girl do?" Armsmaster asked, had twitching slightly.

Dean went silent for a bit, then his eyes blinked innocently. "She used her aura. I was happy to help, and was trying to solve things peacefully, but things got out of hand. If I had to make an entirely unbiased guess... it has unknown side effects that haven't been noticed due to her working with New Wave, very rarely teaming up with a Ward during duty."

That definitely caught his attention. "Explain. The more honest you are the faster this will go."

Dean focused, trying to explain how he felt. He had a thought, but paled. If he was accurate, this would cause some issues between New Wave and Vicky. If he wasn't it would be treachery. "I have two possible ideas. One is that the other cape had a Master power, which is unlikely due to their changing powersets ensuring such a thing would be difficult."

"I think there's some kind of side effect to Vick- Glory Girl's aura, sir. I can understand why it may be strange, but it specifically makes others fear or love her, right? For one, that's a known effect. She's been cleared to use it in the field, but it could have bad effects on one's fight or flight response... right? I think the feeling of endearment she creates made me want to fight more, and the fear aura causes the opponent to feel trapped. I am... resistant to Master class abilities, but it could be so miniscule that I hadn't noticed, or correlated it with my relationship with her. It isn't a direct cape power, but a side effect caused by human psychology."

"That is your honest opinion?" Armsmaster said, inputting information into a tablet. "We had suspicions but New Wave prevented us from checking, citing it was unnecessary. This allows us to do so, with a witness. Thank you Gallant."

"Yes sir." Dean replied, not saying much else in fear of saying something he shouldn't.

"Very well." The halberd wielding cape spoke into his helmet's microphone. "Someone get Glory Girl under Master/Stranger protocols ASAP. We have reports of unexpected side effects of her abilities. Possibly breaking a few laws in doing so as well. Also the rest of New Wave."

Dean stared in shock. "Sir, you can't mean-" He hadn't meant for this to happen. He thought they would let her know about it so she could prevent herself from using her aura in a fight.

"You're going to be confined as well, Gallant. You've been in her aura too often. If it makes you want to fight, we should ensure it hasn't impaired you in any way, despite your resilience against Master effects. The rest of New Wave has lived with her for years and _aren't_ immune. I can think of five possible situations that are happening due to the emotions." he said, gesturing to the PRT van.

Dean gaped at what he had just started, all with a simple answer. "But, she- she can't be a Master- It was just a theory-" he stopped at the stern look given to him. "Y-yes sir..." He carefully clambered into the car and sat down, head in his hands. He honestly didn't know how to feel. Was what just happened his fault? Was he betraying Vicky or helping her? Only time would tell.

Once Vicky was loaded into an ambulance to ensure her safety, they drove away, Gallant unable to shake the awful feeling in his stomach of what was to come.

* * *

Omake #2: Cave Johnson's Combustible Lemons vs Bakuda's Combustible Combustibles  
[ **Song: Portal 2 Soundtrack - Cave Johnson (Turrets/Boots/Panels Trailer Music) |** _Brute 6, Changer/Breaker 7 (Thinker 7, Tinker 7)_ ]

"Bwahaha!" Bakuda cackled from her Tinketech laboratory. "I am the ultimate demolitionist! I can make any explosive!" she crowed, looking at the display of black hole, time stopping, and other brutal explosive devices in front of her.

A muffled boom sounded, a mouth puckering taste filled the air, and the door fell down in a puff of yellow smoke. "I beg to differ!" a deep voice boomed.

"Who are you?!" Bakuda shrieked.

"Who am I?" the figure asked, startled, as if the possibility of someone asking such a question had never occurred to them. "Why I'm Cave Johnson! I have that name due to the fact one of my hobbies is exploring caves. Speaking of which, the lab boys say it's bad for my health to go excavating ancient caverns, but what do they know, they haven't gotten a day of exercise in their lives!" the figure rambled, not making any clear sense. "Oh, they're telling me that's because they exist within my brain and can't get outside. Welp, Not my problem."

"Why are you here?" Bakuda sked, gripping a black hole bomb. "Are you here to defeat me?"

"Why would I do that?" Cave asked. "Oh, what's that? She's the one who claimed to be the best at making explosives? Oh, that's right, where was I?" the now visible woman muttered. She snapped her fingers, remembering what she was talking about before she was rambling.

"I beg to differ! Recently I had the lab boys explain to me what the phrase 'When Life Gives you Lemons' means. That man is now fired. They say great science is built on the shoulders of giants. Not here." the crazed man said, tapping her skull. "At Aperture, we do all our science from scratch. No hand holding. You know what I decided? I'm goddamn Cave Johnson, that's what! When life gives you lemons? Don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am?! I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons!"

Bakuda stared in shock. "Are you threatening me?!" she roared. She launched the black hole bomb at the intruder, and it exploded. A self contained singularity formed, dragging in the figure. As the rugged man fell toWards it, he threw a yellow object at the black hole, and the hole in space time sealed itself. Bakuda stared. "What was that?!"

Cave held out a fluorescent yellow lemon, so bright one couldn't look at it for long. Bakuda realised the strange cape was wearing sunglasses so they could look at the lemon safely. "This is one of the prototype explosive lemons the boys cooked up. Doesn't explode though, it's simply the most sour thing in all of the multiverse. Literally. It's so sour, in fact, that it caused that black hole to pucker up at the taste. When it did that, it closed right on up, and decided it would rather not exist than to taste such a sour object ever again." As he finished, he nodded with absolute certainty, as if claiming a singularity was sentient was as common as mentioning the weather.

Bakuda blinked in shock, tossing a time stopper at Cave Johnson. Another lemon flew, and the time stop bubble cut out. "What did you do now?" she asked, now worried for an answer.

"Well, I had wanted the sweetest object in existence to go with the most sour object, so we made a super sweet lemon. It's made out of 50% cane sugar, 50% caffeine, and 50% cocaine. Hmm? No cocaine? Well then get the boys to put some in anyway! We need more pep to our step!" the man began shouting orders at invisible 'Lab Boys'.

Bakuda edged toWards her gun that she used in emergencies, really wanting to use it, but also had an uncontrollable desire to see this most powerful explosive in the world, powered by lemons. "Well, I still don't see any explosions!" she said rudely.

"Ah, quite true madam. Alright boys, show me what you've got." The man held out his hand in concentration, and a normal lemon appeared. That's what it looked like. A normal lemon. "Welp, here goes nothing."

He tossed the lemon. Nothing happened. "Huh, I guess it really was nothi-"

*Boom*

An explosion ripped through the room, space, and time, devastating the planet and every life form on it, including Zion, who could not stand against the overwhelming taste of sweet and sour. The burst of yellow spread everywhere, through dimensions, destroying everything in its path.

And because there was nothing left in the universe, it was then that Life's house burned down, forcing the entity to struggle to find financial support, eventually forcing it to call in its debt with Death so as to not live on the streets.

The End.

(P.S. The Lab Boy who made the final lemon was promoted by Cave Johnson in his dying moments)

* * *

 _**M-M**_

 **Alphys - Undertale Soundtrack |** _Thinker 3, Tinker 4, Brute 2_  
Can repurpose and average tech into advanced Tinkertech of higher quality with little cost. Has in depth knowledge of coding, allowing for a large amount of obscure programs, but nothing so complex as an AI. She becomes scaled and yellow, resembling like a lizard. Can **AMP** , but is currently unavailable.

 **This Will Be The Day - RWBY Vol.1 Soundtrack |** _Mover 4, Brute 2, Blaster 4, Changer 2_  
Moves around at high near Velocity speeds, but only for brief flashes at a time. During her speed boosts she can become less solid, her body turning into a cloud of rose petals that can be moved around at will, reforming into her whenever she wished. Her clothing becomes Ruby's Dress from RWBY from before Volume 4, with her music note insignia in her waist as a clip. The clothing lasts as long as the power does, and then it reverts to her original clothing. She also can summon Crescent Rose, a weapon from RWBY. It is a mech-shift weapon, and can compress into a high caliber sniper rifle in seconds. The rifle fires normal bullets unless she uses her energy to make elemental bullets.

 **Neon - RWBY Vol.3 Soundtrack |** _Mover 5, Brute 3, Shaker 2_  
Gains roller skates, and knows how to use them. Taylor's goal is to kick ass, take names, and never miss a beat. The longer she goes without messing up, she will be better, but once she makes a mistake she will stumble, allowing for precious time she cannot afford to lose. Nunchaku-glowsticks (glowstick-nunchakus?) are her weapon of choice, and it can cycle between elemental damage types as well as physical ones. She visually changes into a young girl with a light complexion. She has green eyes and moderate red-orange hair done up in four pigtails with light blue streaks in her bangs. Her personality becomes much bubblier, but she also has a mean streak, using insults and jabs to distract and anger her opponents. She has a barrier similar to Glory Girl's, but it will not go out when taking large damage, rather using her stamina to power itself. She also has a cat tail for some reason. Balance maybe?

 **Funhouse by Pink |** _Shaker 3, Master 5, Thinker 2, Trump 4_  
Allows Taylor to create clones of herself out of any surface (walls, floor, road). Max number of clones is under ten. Clones look like her but are made out of whatever material they spawned from, giving them low Brute rating based on how strong the material was. She does not have a 'Main' body, but rather will live so long as the copies exist, and each copy cannot make more copies unless the combined number is under eight. they can repair themselves by touching what they're made of, and change their shapes slightly to form weapons. Their strength is relative to their material makeup. It takes a few minutes to make the clone again if the clone is destroyed, and a cooldown is placed on the clone 'slot'. When the power ends the copies vanish and the most healthy clone or clone of choice turns back into Taylor.

 **I Burn - RWBY Vol.5 Soundtrack |** _Brute 5, Blaster 2, Shaker 1_  
Taylor's hair changes to a bright Gold color, shining slightly in the light. Her outfit turns into a tan jacket that bares her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Her emblem is seen under the jacket on an undershirt, over her heart. Her belt has shotgun shells on it for her weapons, sitting above a combat shirt that shows off some skin. The weapons themselves, Ember Celica, are two gauntlets used to punch things while still protecting her hands. When they are activated, they change into shotguns as well, and when she punches something they go off, hitting the target. The shells hold explosive shots, but aren't enough to severely harm anyone from the explosion, mostly stun with slight burns. The real damage is from punching, which has the power to break concrete easily. Using the propulsion from her Ember Celica, she can maneuver very quickly, avoiding attacks with ease. When she gets angry, her eyes become red, and she deals more damage, sacrificing accuracy and speed for pure firepower. Whenever she takes a hit, her damage increases based on the scale of the kinetic energy absorbed. Finally, she gives off bursts of heat when she gets angry, mildly burning her surroundings. Can **AMP** , not currently available.

* * *

 **I'm not sorry for Vicky's Theme song.**

 **I bet you're all like 'Woah, why does Vicky have Master powers?' Well her aura is a Shaker ability, and she tends to fight alone, or with someone who doesn't really get a lot of exposure to her aura. Dean, having been around her a lot, has gradually been attuned to her aura, similar to Amy but it really just makes him take her side more often than not instead of obsessive love. As for Gallant's uselessness is from the inability to hit Medley, her powers preventing him from harming her, and then her last power actually benefited from it. Medley simply was enjoying the fight, and was pretty pissed that they interrupted her. She still sees being a cape as a kind of game, due to her innocence as a newbie. Oh how quickly that can change...**

 **:et me know if I missed anything in these edits I made recently.**


	5. Interlude (Clef 1-5)

**Clef 1.5: Interlude**

* * *

 **Here's the new chapter! Just so you know, the song suggestions are now CLOSED. You can suggest all the songs you want, but unless they're already on the extensive list they will probably not be added.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the specifics of Medley's powers. She also looks like Miku Hatsune (Who I also don't own, obviously)**

 **Song List:  
** **No New Ones, Just the ones from the last chapter mentioned**

* * *

Armsmaster gazed through the protective glass as the unconscious figure below. The cell was designed for Master-Stranger Protocols, allowing meals and communication, but not allowing the inhabitant to leave or affect those outside without effort. Glory Girl lay as she had when they picked her up, still not responding but no longer injured, his portable healing device working long enough to repair any serious injuries she had. He still needed to make it more efficient though, it could only heal a localized area of the body at once, and could only hold a few uses.

He was quite wary of the coming conversation ever since Gallant had reported his suspicions of her Master ability. He was relieved though, as it had been a suspicion of his ever since Glory Girl became a cape, he had wanted to test for a Master ability. Unfortunately, her mother would not allow them to attempt it without a warrant or any legal reason. Since he had a witness and a Ward was compromised by it, he definitely had the authority to do so now.

The form below him shifted, and he pressed the intercom to speak to her as she blinked her eyes blearily. "Ms Dallon, are you alright?" he asked.

Glory Girl threw herself out of bed, looking around wildly. "Wha? Who's there? Where am I?" she slurred, still waking up.

"Ms Dallon, calm yourself, this is Armsmaster. You are currently under Master-Stranger Protocols." He cautioned. "Any movement to leave will be taken as an aggressive maneuver and you will be restrained. That includes your aura. Please do restrain yourself."

Vicky froze, having been about to flare her aura in indignation. "What? Why? Did that new cape do this? What was her name again? Wasn't it something like 'Meldy'?"

Armsmaster sighed. "It was Medley. And it wasn't her fault that we are under M/S Protocols. It's you." He explained when she let out a squawk of outrage. Her indignation was ignored as Armsmaster rolled his eyes. Why did Assault have to leave the confession to him? They all knew he was bad with social interactions. Militia would have been better at explaining the situation. Well, he had a slight relationship with Kid Win while they tinkered, and he's not even moody or destructive like some of the other teens, so that was a good sign.

"That's ridiculous!" she cried. A feeling of danger and fear filled Armsmaster. His suit locked up as it recognized that her aura was affecting him. It was a precaution installed in the programming that locked up the servos should he ever be Mastered or register as having unusual levels of emotion. "Miss Dallon, please restrain your aura, or I will be forced to foam you!" A small turret appeared in the ceiling, directed by his eyes, as he didn't trust the rest of his body when under her effect.

She froze, the aura's effect retreating instantly, realizing the situation she was in. "Why is this happening? How am _I_ considered a Master?"

"Your aura is very likely to have affected a Ward's long term behavior, which was what allowed us to contain you and mark you under M/S Protocol, despite your family's wishes. Speaking of which, they will have to go through this as well, as well as long-term counselling. It seems your aura seems to affect people more quickly the longer they're around you. The side effects could have been devastating if not noticed earlier. Despite my distance from you, I will also voluntarily be under 24 hour surveillance just for speaking with you." He informed her.

"But how does it affect people?" she growled, getting frustrated with his lack of response.

"Your aura instills either a fear towards you or awestruck obsession for the duration one is within its range. The Master effect was hidden from us because your mother prevented us from looking into it previously. It showed up when it affected Medley and Gallant, which we were notified of when Gallant thought he'd been controlled by Medley. Even if the effect of your aura does not persist, the human body retains a Pavlovian response to it. In short, people can be addicted to it." That was a lie to prevent her from blaming Gallant in any way.

"We figured out the truth when his manner of speaking and emotions changed after leaving your proximity. Medley wasn't affected at all once she left the range, having only been under your power for a relatively short period of time. Despite that, she was led to see you as more of a threat than she may have usually, prolonging your fight or even instigating it in the first place. Through our prediction software, Dragon and I have decided that you have affected civilians in the past, or will do so soon in the future should you refrain from controlling it more thoroughly." he lectured.

"Gallant, however, has been under your effect for much longer. Yes, he is strongly resistant to Master effects, but over the months you have known him, it seems to have affected him a little bit at a time. Due to your intimate nature, it has been building up to the point where he broke strict protocol and the rules of engagement to protect you, putting himself in danger. He attempted to help you in the fight, lost, and now is in M/S protocols as a result, sporting minor injuries and abrasions along with bruised bones all over as Medley thoroughly won the conflict." His voice darkened towards the end, displaying his displeasure at the fact a Ward was injured. Whether he blamed her or Medley, it was not clear.

"Finally," he said, anger showing. "According to camera and witnesses in the area, Medley was one hundred percent against the Merchants, only turning on you later." He held up three fingers. "She changed her mind when you first mistook her for a villain, despite her showing regret for severely injuring the man." He ticked a finger. "Second, you damaged her Tinkertech quite badly, which according to Dragon had great emotional bonds with." Another finger. "Third, you were already too hotheaded, looking for a fight with the Merchants, but settling for a new cape who was only on her first outing. The final finger was ticked. "All of this adds up to a young impressionable cape being turned away from the Wards, and is 40% likely to now join a villain group."

Vicky paled as she realized how badly she had messed up. What she did with this information was not of Armsmaster's concern, only that she controlled her power before she was arrested for it. A signal beeped inside of Armsmaster's helmet, and a recording from Assault appeared.

 _"Hey Armsy, Brandish just showed up and she seems pissed. I diverted her attention, but she's headed your way soon."_ Armsmaster sighed yet again. This day was going downhill in more pieces than when Clockblocker tried to freeze a helicopter midair during power testing.

* * *

Lisa had been having a rather nice day. The boss had let them know they wouldn't have another job for quite a while, and she was going out to buy froze as the merchants stormed the jewelry store. Were they here for her?

 _Not here for me. Not here for a person. Here for jewelry. Skidmark decided to rob the place for Squealer._ _On drugs. Several different drugs, moreso than usual. A mix of 5 grams of cocaine, one dose of heroi-_

That information wasn't necessary. If they weren't here to go after her, she should be safe enough, just wait for them to leave or the PRT to arrive. She noticed a girl ignoring the merchants at the counter, her jacket hood pulled up strangely far. Huh. Interesting. She tried to use her power on the girl and-

 **Taylor Hebert's Theme: Necessity**

"Pardon?" Lisa said aloud, catching her self as she blinked in shock. What the hell was that? She couldn't get a read from this person, whoever they were. All that her power was giving her was of some unknown tune, almost like the music you get while on hold on the telephone, but instead it was something else. Lisa stared at the girl, turning down her power. Could she get anything about this person? Her power was acting like they were a blank slate. They were clearly a cape of some kind, right? She tried using her powers on what she could see, rather than the girl herself.

 _Is a cape._

No shit.

 _Need more information. No apparent powers, but is carrying something? Possibly Tinkertech. Possibly a Backpack. Both?_

Lisa clenched her fist with how blatantly obvious her power was being. What are her powers?

 _Not readying arms for Blaster power. Not preparing for physical fight. Possible Shaker, Stranger, Master, Changer, Tinker or Thinker. Not enough information_.

And then her power continued playing that music in her head. Was that a... definition? It was like the music was given a meaning or a categorization in her head. It was impossible to describe, so she moved on and decided to think on it later.

"Hey girlie, do ya need something? We're trying to get into the cases here." Skidmark said loudly. "If you don't move, I'll have my boys take you with us for some _fun_." He said lecherously. Lisa held back a shudder at the man's expression but had a feeling she should be warning him of danger rather than the girl he was going for.

The girl turned her head slightly, staring at the merchants in surprise, legitimately not having noticed them for some reason, or at least not recognizing them as a threat. "Are you... robbing me?" she asked in surprise, showing her vibrant blue eyes to the room. Skidmark, in his drug addled haze, didn't notice her Tinkertech... backpack? Her power gave no answers.

Lisa blinked in surprise, missing the next bit of conversation as she thought. What the hell was happening? All she knew was this girl was a Trump. That could be an array of things, anywhere from Eidolon based to simply weakening other capes. So far it was closer to the others, maybe an anti-Thinker? Spam a Thinker's mind with music until they had to give up? Hmm...

With a _BANG_ , a glowing white bullet shot over Skidmark, startling Lisa. Where did that come from? She turned to look in awe at the simply enormous sniper the girl held. _Her cape outfit has also drastically altered, now it's a gothic lolita dress. In good taste too, the colour scheme went well together- Focus Lisa!_ She shook her head as she focused on the cape's weapon. Fortunately, it seemed Lisa could use her power on the girl's items and powers, just not on the cape herself or her background. She tried to find out what her power was, again.

 **This Will Be The Day - RWBY Soundtrack |** _Mover 4, Brute 2, Blaster 4, Changer 2_

 _Known Trump. What kind? Power changer? Probably, clothing and music relevant to power. May be able to use my power to interpret her current ones. Unique. Sound based emotions convey the resulting effect. What does that mean? She makes songs and they give her random powers. Stance and reactions show she has something to prove? Emotional baggage?_ _Not enough info to figure out her limits. Confident enough that she is either decently powerful or an idiot._

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." She crouched, knowing where to sit safely during a gunfight thanks to her power and experience from the past.

The girl was firing upon the Merchants with some kind of weapon, a strange combination of a sniper and something else. thankfully her power worked on the weapon she had. _Moving parts suggest it can be changed. Not modular, unique shape. Apparent weight suggests a melee form as well. A blade too since blunt damage would be ineffective with the user's power. Cleaving. A scythe. A sniper-scythe? Summoned by her power. Can make tinkertech with power in right conditions. Runs on crystalline elemental energy source._

Lisa was in her own world, focused on running her intuition. ' _So there's an Eidolon-lite running around. She's also a living mp3 player. She could kill us all if she were to use the wrong power because they affect her already unbalanced emotions. And I'm the only one who knows about this. Okay.'_ She clapped her hands to her cheeks, barely feeling the impact as she tried to stand up. _I guess I should do something, huh?_ Lisa walked forward to the ruined front of the store and peeked out to see Glory Girl facing off with the new cape. She saw the music cape announce something.

 _Said her name. Starts with M. Cape's name likely has to do with music. Similar to her powers? A mix of some sort? Some vocabulary word having to do with mixing up songs. Medley._

Of course it was. It wouldn't take a Thinker rating to see the battle that was about to happen. Lisa decided it was time to leave and deal with this once it all blew over. Maybe she could convince the new cape to join the Undersiders? Her new _boss,_ (she shuddered when she thought of the man, having only been forced into the inane group known as the Undersiders a few weeks prior) would be interested to hear about this though. Maybe she'd get some vacation days?

She pulled out her phone.

END INTERLUDE

* * *

 **Omake: The OP Troll Villain Route, Part 2**

Medley stared in fear as Leviathan stalked closer, his lithe form spelling doom and damnation for all. She raised her arms and forced the last dredges of her power to activate once more.

 **Fuck this Shit I'm Out |** _Mover 69  
User will go as far as necessary to leave the current situation._

With a jazzy tune, Medley leapt into the air, and held up a hand. Leviathan stopped in confusion. "You know what?" she asked. "This is way out of my league." She turned to Lung and activated her power. "You handle this. _Fuck this shit I'm Out._ " She sang, sidestepping away, leaving the fight, the city, the known dimension, and even this entire fanfiction behind, heading for a better one where she doesn't have to fight an End-Bringer single handedly.

* * *

 _ **I have a second Omake of sorts as an apology for taking so long on updates. Prompt: What would happen if Emma had the powers and not Taylor?  
(Not canon in any way, just to let you know. It's also a bit of an AU to make it more interesting. I get it's messed up, but it's also the trio we're talking about) Introducing:**_

 **Omake: Emma's Theme**  
 _aka a parody of 'Candy Store' from the movie 'Heathers'  
The video that you should watch with this is 'Candy Store || Heathers Animatic' by szin. It's really good, and the characters even look like the trio. assume the animatic is exactly how they act in this scene._

 _The sections in italics are the song lyrics Emma is singing, and the parenthesis is Madison and Sophia._

Emma sneered as she stalked towards the lonely girl, her posse and some other kids from Winslow following behind her. It had been weeks since the locker, and Taylor had barely changed at all, the only change being her making a friend with a rather _large_ girl who was also a loser, named Bethany. They had become rather good friends, and Emma decided now would be a good time to change that. They had cornered Taylor alone in a hallway after school right when the teachers were in their classes cleaning up, and the girl stared at them defiantly, practically indignant that they were interrupting her at that moment. "Emma... can you _please_ leave me alone? Just this once?" Taylor sounded so hopeful. Emma could have laughed. If only the poor girl knew what was in for her.

Emma let her power burst free. Hiding it for so long had been a pain, but it was so satisfying that she could use it now with no repercussions. Sophia had disabled the cameras, and no one would be here this late other than Emma's posse, none of whom would say a single word or face the wrath of the trio. It was time. Either Taylor would become a predator and join them, or she would break.

 **'Candy Store || Heathers Animatic' by szin |** _Master 5, Shaker 2, Stranger 2_  
Emma can convince people to listen to her simply by performing this song. Any trace of resistance or evidence of the brainwashing will be hidden for the duration of the song. Afterwards, the people who witnessed the events will forget and cannot speak of it if they hear about it. Emma raised a brow at the cowering figure.

 _Are we gonna have a problem?  
Do you have a bone to pick_?  
 _You've come so far! Why_ now _, are you pulling on my dick?!  
I'd normally slap your face off, and everyone here could watch!  
But I'm feeling nice, here's some advice, listen up, BIATCH!_

Taylor flinched. A dangerous grin crossed Emma's face as she felt the power she held over the girl. The trio walked away a few steps as the music emanated from the corridor walls. They turned back to Taylor with wolf-like grins. Taylor flinched as she realized Emma was a cape.

 _(I like) looking hot, buying stuff they cannot.  
(I like) working hard, maxin' dad's credit card.  
(I like) skippin' gym, scaring her, screwing him.  
(I like) killer clothes, kickin' nerds in the nose!_

As she sang, Emma twirled around to face the crowd, winking at a jock while Sophia slammed her foot into Greg's face, knocking him down.

 _If you lack the balls, you can go play dolls, let your mommy fix you a snack._

Emma paused for a second as she chucked her sandwich at Taylor's face, jam spilling all over the girl's old shirt. "Oh wait, she's dead, right?" Taylor crumpled, tears forming. "Oh well." They continued.

 _Or you could come smoke, pound some rum and coke, in my Porsche with the quarterback!  
(Woah-o, Woah-o, Woah-o!)  
Honey wat'chu waitin foOor, come into my candy stoOore!  
Time for you to prove you're not a loser anymoOore!  
Just step into my candy stoOoOre!_

Madison stepped forward, seeing her chance to insult Taylor.

 _Guys fall at your feet, pay your check, help you cheat._ She and Sophia held up a paper with a list of test answers on it.  
 _All you have to do, say goodbye to Shamu._ Taylor realized they were referring to Bethany, and bristled.  
 _That freak's not your friend, I can tell in the end!  
If she had your shot, she would leave you to rot!_ Madison said, smiling cutely at Taylor's bewildered face.

 _'Course, if you don't care, fine! Go braid her hair, maybe Sesame Street is on!_ She said with a wink.  
 _(Woah-o-ah!)  
Or forget that creep  
And get in my jeep_ Sophia interrupted,  
 _Let's go tear up someone's lawn!_ Emma added.

They began dragging Taylor away, but the girl backed up, staring in shock as she watched them.

 _(Woah-o, Woah-o, Woah-o!)  
Honey wat'chu waitin foOor, come into my candy stoOore!  
Time for you to prove you're not a PUSSY anymoOore! _Emma held out a hand to the girl.  
 _Just step into my candy stoOoOre!_

 _You can join the team, (or you can bitch and moan)  
You can live the life, (or you can die alone!)  
You can fly with eagles, or if you'd prefer  
Keep on testing me, and end up like her!_

They pointed down the hall to where an oblivious Bethany walked towards them. Taylor watched in horror as the girl waved a letter in one hand. "Taylor! Look what I found in my locker! Chad invited me to his homecoming party! This proves he's been thinking about me!"

Emma watched from a wall as Taylor floundered. If she let the girl know that it was a trick from the trio, then she would be bullied harder, if she didn't, the large girl would be a laughingstock for showing up at a party she wasn't invited to.

Taylor winced as she spoke. "Color me stoked..." she said softly in return.

"I'm so happy!" Bethany said, running off down the corridor. Taylor winced as she felt the lie run through her.

Emma smiled. She had her in her grasp.

Sophia began singing. _WooOOAAoAoAhh! Step into my candy sto-_

Emma smacked her, glaring angrily. "SHUT UP SOPHIA!" Then Emma took the spotlight.

 _Step into my caaandy stooOore! (Time for you to prove you're not a lame-ass anymoOore) Woaaah!  
Then Step into my candy store!_

Taylor took slow methodical steps towards her tormentors, clearly fighting the urge to join them, but Emma's power was too much.

 _(It's my candy store, it's my candy. It's my candy store, it's my candy. It's my candy store, it's my candy, StoooooOOOOOre!)_ They finished loudly.

Taylor took Emma's hand.

She smiled.

 **END OMAKE**

 ** _There really should be a Heathers worm crossover. It works too well._**


	6. Clef 1-6

**I understand I've been gone for... too long. I just had to take a step back and distance myself from writing as a whole. I had too much time invested in it, as if it were my actual job. As for now, this is a post just to keep the story at least recently updated, and the rest of it is more of a hobby. I will do my best to write, but I've lost a bit of my inspiration. Someone already asked if they could adopt it, so that's on the table if the worst comes to worst. For now, just enjoy what I've got.**

* * *

 **Musical Melodies  
** **Clef 1.6**

* * *

After turning the corner, Taylor began running, her power shutting down. Her blue hair became the usual brown, and her clothes turned back into the costume she had bought from Parian. After going a good distance, about a dozen blocks, she collapsed into a side alley, her emotions finally breaking free.

 _Drip, Drip, Drip..._

Taylor sat in silence, listening to the cars go by. Her costume was spattered with mud and dirt, and her tinkertech was ruined. Tears fell from her face onto the ground nearby.

 _Drip, Drip, Drip_...

It was useless, wasn't it? She tries _so hard_ to help, and what happens? Everyone turns against her. Nothing works out. In the end, she was useless after all...

 ****M-M****

Lisa clicked the phone off angrily. Coil's words rang in her ears.

 _Recruit the new cape. If her powerset is as you believe, she will be a powerful addition to your team. If you manage to convince her, do what you need to do to get her trust._

She shivered in disgust. It was like he saw them as toys to be played with rather than actual people. It was degrading and messed up in so many ways it wasn't even funny. "Tch, creepy asshole." She muttered under her breath. Alright, she had to locate Medley then. If she were a depressed cape, where would she go?

 _Was severely distraught after the fight. Doesn't trust the heroes, the fight and Armsmaster's attempt at recruitment was a bust, so she would be more open to an alternative solution. Most likely has issues at home, since her emotional issues have gone for so long with no help. Probably didn't make it more than a dozen blocks after the fight, heading in the same direction as she left from._

Lisa began heading in the direction the new cape had fled towards, running through scenarios on how to convince her to join them. She could be the cheerful friend who was there to help her and get her reliance, and then break it off once the girl was in Coil's hands. She could blackmail her with her identity. It wouldn't be hard, just a few minutes of talking and then her address and name would he easy to get. She rambled off for a moment before stopping by an alleyway. She turned to look and saw a shoe poking from behind a dumpster. Sounds of crying came from the same area. "Now that's just sad." she sighed. "It wasn't even hard either..." Lisa took a few steps towards the shoe.

"Hey, you alright over there?" she called hesitantly. The crying stopped. Lisa moved closer. "Hey, I'm-" she began cheerfully, but she froze as the girl came into view. Her hair, once blue and clearly well taken care of and brushed was now a matted brown mess from the combat and the alleyway, her pretty dress was torn and damaged, and her lip was split. In that moment she didn't see a new cape.

She saw a scared little girl. She saw herself, months before hiding in the streets from Coil's goons. _Suicidal. Believes she has failed at everything-_ She saw her brother. All thoughts of deceiving the cape were gone.

They made eye contact, neither of them moving. Lisa felt herself walking over and sitting down by Medley, a strange sense of separation between her and her body. Both of them were unmasked, but that didn't matter in this moment. "Hey." Lisa said. "You look like you need a friend." Lisa said quietly.

Medley stared at her with darkened eyes, pits of despair. "And why should I trust you?" she asked. The brown haired girl tried to stand, her hair flickering back to blue for a brief moment. She practically collapsed into Lisa's arms as her power failed. "Ah!" Medley winced, holding her head.

Lisa sighed, supporting the cape's weight on her arms. "It's alright, it'll go away soon. Lord knows I've had my fair share of Thinker headaches." She grasped Medley's hand and shook it, ignoring the clammy feel from the contact. "I'm Tattletale, of the Undersiders. Do you need help?"

"I'm good, thanks very much." she mumbled, swaying on her feet before passing out into Lisa's arms. Lisa staggered to the side before straightening up.

"Well, that went as well as it could have." She opened her phone and dialed. "Yo, Brian, I need a lift. No, I'm not in trouble. I have someone who needs medical attention. Boss' orders. Yeah yeah, I'll owe you one. The corner of White Street and Ruby Road." She hung up and started making her way to the pickup point.

 ****M-M****

 _Taylor watched the man's hand fall to the ground. Where it hit the ground the air seemed to warp, and she found herself facing Glory Girl, her face a rictus of screaming anger. "You did this!" the blonde roared, standing over Gallant. She charged Taylor, infinitely far away and inches from Taylor at once. "No- No, it wasn't me! I didn't mean to do this!" Taylor said, her words barely audible. She heard Armsmaster speaking, but everything began fading, oh so very far away. "Filthy Freak!" Sophia snarled at her._ "You? _A hero? Ha! You couldn't even do that properly!" Sophia's form changed into that of Shadow Stalker's, and suddenly all of the Protectorate were chasing her._ _Emma sneered and joined the crowd. "You don't know me! You don't deserve to be my friend!" Taylor writhed frantically, trying to escape, to find some way TO JUST WAKE UP!_

Taylor jolted awake, gasping for breath as her tears shuddered to a halt. She sat there for a bit with her eyes closed as her tremors eased. She reached to the side and picked up her glasses, putting them on. She wearily blinked her eyes open to an unfamiliar room. She glanced around frantically, taking in her surroundings. The walls were a light cream, blending nicely with the rest of the room. The curtains were drawn shut, keeping the room bathed in shadow. The only light was from the windows and the door. She glanced at the clock on the bedside table, seeing it was 9 AM.

She stood up unsteadily and made her way to the window. Someone had changed her into other clothes while she slept. Her wounds had been covered with bandages, although multiple bruises showed along her arms. She threw open the window to find herself in one of Brockton Bay's taller apartment buildings. The city below was strangely quiet, this building probably chosen because of the relative silence.

The door creaked behind her. Taylor turned to see a blond girl enter the room. Her emerald eyes glitter mischievously, a constant smile playing along her lips, as if saying ' _I know something you don't._ '

"I see you've recovered?" The girl said cheerfully. "You were pretty roughed up. Fortunately Brian and the others were able to bring you here. They voted against bringing you to the base."

Taylor blinked a few times. "What? Who are you? Why am I here?" she glanced around and began panicking. "Where's my stuff?!" If she had lost her Tinkertech, or even her costume, she would be in a lot of trouble. Who knew when she'd be able to get another Tinker power that could help? It had taken her ages to make that gear! She also couldn't just go to Parian for another costume right now, the backups weren't ready.

"Relax, you're safe here. You really riled up the hornet's nest with your debut stunt. Your stuff's in my closet. I washed out the stains in your outfit, but you're gonna have to fix the rips on your own." the blonde commented. "Oh, how could I forget? I'm Lisa! Nice to meet you!" The look on her face showed she clearly hadn't forgotten to introduce herself.

Reaching for her power, Taylor hissed in pain as her head pounded, the headache that was faintly in the background brought to the forefront and suddenly much, much worse.

"I'd wait on using your powers, they definitely need to rest for a few days."

Taylor grimaced, still hesitant. The memories were coming back now. The merchants fleeing, Glory Girl interfering, her fight, Armsmaster's conversation, and Lisa showing up to help afterwards. Strangely, the emotions she felt during the fight lingered, the sense of excitement increasing her heart rate a bit. "How can I trust you?" she asked. "You-"

"Could be with the PRT or the police?" Lisa finished for her. "Of course not. As I said to you, I'm Tattletale, a member of the Undersiders. I also brought you here yesterday with help and got medical help for you. Yes, it has been a day since the fight."

It still sounded suspicious. What kind of cape would just go out of their way to help someone who attacked Glory Girl?

Lisa sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Okay, you reminded me of my brother. I decided to help you because of it, alright? My powers make me psychic. I know that Glory Girl ruined your debut and now the PRT have a hate boner for you, but I also know that she's getting roasted on PHO for doing that. She hasn't been seen in a bit either, nor has Gallant."

Taylor felt her stomach clench in guilt. Then it growled loudly. Well, and she was really hungry.

Lisa smiled, gesturing to the kitchen. "Let's get some food. You hungry? I sure am." Taylor found herself being pulled out of the room, smiling slightly from the girl's overwhelming personality.

She found herself eating bacon and cereal at a table with Lisa. "Spho-" Taylor swallowed before speaking. "So, what happens now? I can't keep helping people, right? I would be arrested for the Glory Girl thing." She gestured with her spoon while talking.

Lisa shrugged. "Frankly, whatever you want. Although you may have messed up quite a bit more than other Independents, the PRT can't really get go after you. Glory Girl was clearly in the wrong. You also kicked the beehive, so to speak. Gallant let it loose that Glory Girl's aura is a Master power of all things. Now the PRT will be more worried about how it has affected New Wave rather than dealing with you. Being an Independent is probably good because of your power limits anyway. Speaking of which, lay off on your powers for a bit or the headache will return with a vengeance."

Taylor nodded, rubbing her chin in thought. "Is there anything else about my powers you know? It's hard to find my full potential when the effects are random every time."

Lisa shrugged. "All I got was that you're some kind of randomized Trump, changing based on your circumstances, but with restrictions. A bit like Eidolon if he was on shuffle all the time. I have a hypothesis of a side effect of your powers, but I can't be sure at the moment. I'm not some know all genie or anything. Well, not when your powers change so much I can't get a bead on you." She took a moment to collect her thoughts. "You could also keep going out and helping people, obviously not on such a large scale or as public as it was yesterday. You could join a gang, work with them for money to get revenge on the PRT or at least find a vent for your problems. Another option is to submit yourself to the Wards. Apologize and then see if you can join. Get a probation deal like Shadow Stalker."

Taylor snapped up to look at Lisa. "Shadow Stalker? What about her?"

Lisa raised a brow, noting Taylor's response. "She definitely killed someone. I mean, it's a public secret on PHO. It's not very well hidden in the PRT's files, though they try. They caught her and forced her to join in order to escape jail time. Pretty smart move, if I do say so myself. They get a rather skilled combatant and good press and also keep someone off the streets. Obviously if I went into the files more I'd be breaking the unwritten rules, and that's a no no."

Taylor nodded. She had heard about the unwritten rules online, some cape had posted them on a back-end thread, and she had written them down before the post got removed by the mods. It seems no one was supposed to have it online, as it would 'ruin the power behind it' or something once it was an actual rule. It all sounded ridiculous anyway. Whatever kept her alive at the end of the day. The treatment by Emma had taught her that. "I think I'll stay helping people." she said. "I already told Armsmaster I was going to be an Independent."

Lisa nodded. "Well, allow me to propose an offer. How about you join the Undersiders?" Before Taylor could even open her mouth, she was already rambling. "This is not a threat or a bribe, I just want to say that you could be good for our team. We don't kill, and we mostly steal from other gangs, breaking up gatherings and the such. The pay is pretty nice as well. Don't answer now, just think about it in the meantime."

Taylor nodded, still suspicious. "Alright. I'll consider it for now. In the meantime, where's my stuff?"

Lisa stood up. "I'll go get it. I managed to fix up sections of your Tinkertech since it was just simple wiring and batteries, but most of it gave me a headache. The screen is replaced pretty easily, it was cheap to buy, so you just need to fix the internals. Oh, and you might want to find a way to explain this to your parents." She frowned, thinking. "I mean parent. Sorry."

Taylor glared. "Don't do that." Then she realized what Lisa meant, and paled. She hadn't told her dad that she was going to be out for the day, she had been so focused on getting stuff together for her outing. "Hey Lisa, how good are you at fabricating stories?"

* * *

"-so then she just fell asleep on the couch around eight, face down in her homework. Can you believe it? Your daughter is _so_ dedicated!" Lisa chattered into the phone, fitting all the points of a stereotypical teenage girl, even mimicking chewing gum. "So she slept in until about ten minutes ago. I could hardly get her up. Mhm. I'll let her know! Thanks for being understanding, Mr. Hebert!" With that final note, she ended the call.

"You're welcome. Nice job coming up with the idea that you and I were having a study session." Lisa said to Taylor, who thanked her gratefully. They made their way off of the bus stop, walking down the street to Taylor's neighborhood.

Taylor shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. I've done this stuff before." It was true, she had to cover for the time she went to Parian's, and when she was hiding some annoying side effects of her powers. This time, however, she actually had someone to back up her statements. At first she was hesitant to let Lisa talk to her Dad, or even walk her to her house, but she realized Lisa could figure it out with a few questions and a moment of her Thinker power. Speaking of which, they actually were able to fix her backpack with Lisa's power. Her gear apparently wasn't considered Tinkertech, or at least the backpack frame itself. The speakers and power sensors on it definitely were, but they weren't the part that was broken. Her costume was in her backpack, which was currently disguised as a normal backpack thanks to some quick tape and fabric taken from her civilian clothes.

They finally arrived at her house. "All right, this is your stop." Lisa said. "It was nice talking with you. If you ever need help, just call me! Oh, and don't forget my proposal!"

Taylor nodded, and began making her way to her house, dodging the creaky step with ease. She knocked on the door, turning to Lisa. "Thanks again!"

Lisa waved back, heading down the street. Taylor turned back just in time to be pulled into a hug by Danny, who had come outside before she had noticed. "I was so worried." he said. "All I knew was that you had gone out for some errands and then you were at a friend's house. Why didn't you let me know?" he asked, looking at her.

Taylor held her poker face. "I was distracted, Lisa's really good at doing that to people. One moment I was talking to her and then I realized over an hour had passed while we worked. Then we heard about the fight on the boardwalk on the news..."

Danny nodded after a moment. "I heard about that too. Lisa does seem like a nice girl. Why don't you come in and get cleaned up while I make lunch. You slept in too much at her house to actually make it to school on time. I'll call in and say you're sick."

Taylor nodded, relieved her excuse had worked, but guilty that he bought it so easily. She walked upstairs, quickly hiding her gear among her journals in her closet. "Finally..." she sighed. Now to actually finish the homework she had 'completed with Lisa' and then fix her backpack.

* * *

 **That's it for now. During my hiatus I've been increasing my skill in 3D digital art. If you're interested, follow me on Artstation under AbaddonArts. I also have a Ko-fi and a few other social medias under that name if you need to contact me.**


	7. PHO Interlude I

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Topic: New Trump in the Bay  
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Capes ► Independent

Bagrat (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)  
Posted on September 12, 2009:

Alright everyone, not sure if you've heard about this yet, since it happened on the Boardwalk, but a new Cape showed up to help with the Merchants.  
For once an Independent has a name before the PRT gives them one. They decided on Medley, which is rather spot on for their power.

Known power: Changer, Tinker, Breaker They are confirmed Trump, able to change between powers. I changed the title to match. Using too many might weaken them, as you can see at the end of the video later. (Citation Needed)

The order of events are as follows:  
September 12  
2:13 PM

I hear from one of my contacts that someone went into Parian's store. Pretty normal, all things considered, except my contact swore the person had _scales_ of all things.  
There are pictures here. (How people in this city get pictures so quickly, I have no clue). Clearly some kind of lizard person with that tail of theirs. We thought it was Newter but the coloration and scales don't match.  
My contact was unable to stay long enough to see if the person(?) left.

2:54 PM  
We have reports of the Merchants robbing a jewelry store one block from the Boardwalk. I'm not even going to try to figure out why they thought that was a smart idea. They even showed up in a _tank_ of all things.

3:01  
Someone caught a new cape fighting the Merchants on video. The height and build matches, so we're assuming it was the same person. She appears to have some kind of Changer state to pull out whatever gear she has. That portion of the video is here.

3:04  
As mentioned above, the cape has some kind of Changer ability, as they were a lizard earlier and now appear to be some kind of Earth Aleph anime girl.

EDIT: Definitely marking her as a Tinker based on what she said during the fight.

3:10  
Gallant and Glory Girl approach the fight, intending to deal with the situation. Instead of doing that, they end up pissing off this new cape. They get into what is actually an awesome fight. Here's the video of that. (No, we did not edit that soundtrack over the fight, that's all Medley).  
They skirmish for a bit, trading banter, before Medley really pissed them off by listing the reasons she doesn't want to be in the Wards, indirectly insulting them. Then Medley pulls out a power actually similar to Glory Girl's, minus the aura. They fight, and eventually Medley beats Glory Girl (somehow).  
After the fight, Gallant's phone rings, and Medley speaks with Armsmaster on it for a bit before she leaves. Seems things got a little heated on that phone line. And that's all we know about the Bay's newest cape on the scene.

(Showing Page 1 of 7)

► Ron_of_Couches  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

First. Also 'Collateral Damage Barbie?!" I've got to use that one now.

► Newter  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

No way that's me. I'm more amphibian than reptile. Do we have a new Case 53 in town?

► Matharken (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

I'm not going to compare her to Eidolon in strength, but the usage is similar, even if she doesn't seem to be able to do as much at once. I wonder how this'll mess with the other gangs in the Bay once she gets going?

► EclairEcleirEclear  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

She seemed to be pretty surprised by her own powers. Is it completely random? That definitely limits her versatility if she isn't aware of what power she gets. What if she gets something really bad and can't control it?

► WandofSmiles  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

I love her outfit! All of those outfits look so good on her! She's lucky it changes with her powers. Hey Eidolon, do you know about this person yet?

► BurntCookie  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

She can't just do that to a Ward and a New Wave member! She should be arrested!

► TheGnat  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

BurntCookie  
Don't get your panties in a twist. I don't know what world you're living in, but Gallant and Glory girl clearly started it. She didn't really have much of a chance.

WandofSmiles  
I doubt Eidolon will see the post. He rarely ever comes online, and doesn't check PM's often.

EDIT: Hold up, did she really cut off that guy's hand? Geez.

► Team_Lancer  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

She totally was in the wrong. That guy got really injured by her weapon. This is why we need to make sure capes can't just swing around giant scythe-rifles.

► L33T (Verified Cape)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Hey now, if you look right at the beginning of the video, you can see the guy was pushed into the way by Skidmark. Also, Medley was pretty upset about it. It was Glory Hog _Girl_ 's fault the Merchants got away, she could have helped capture them.

► Team_Lancer  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

What are you talking about L33T ?

I don't see Skidmark doing anything.

► L33T (Verified Cape)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Can you really not see it? It's pretty obvious Skidmark is using his power. Compare this frame to these from other fights I caught on camera. I did some editing on it and it's much more visible now. Also Medley is _very_ much in control of the blade. She didn't even flinch and deflected bullets!

Do you think Medley would be up to help Uber and I out with some stuff? If she could play video game music that would be so cool!

► Team_Lancer  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

L33T

I guess your floating camera does serve a purpose after all.

► L33T (Verified Cape)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Now she's a cat girl?! What. And she has good taste in music. *le gasp*

► Newter  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Okay, she's not a Case 53, but a catgirl? Seriously? Now the internet's going to make weird stuff. I've had enough of that written about me... *shiver*

► Nakyak (Cape Geek)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

L33T's right, that's Skidmark's power that pushed that guy into her path. Hey, speaking of music, won't there be a copyright issue eventually if she plays music like that and someone sues? There's got to be some kind of law about it. Also, how the heck was she playing it? It had such good quality, like someone edited it into the video themselves.

Newter  
Yuck.

► CardinalPoint (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

I've certainly never heard of any of those songs. Are we sure they aren't original? Maybe she grabbed some online that originated in Earth Bet? They all sound rather good. Maybe Canary can get some ideas for new music thanks to the music Medley had once her court case is dealt with.

► RockNBowl  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Cardinal Point  
I don't think Canary will be out anytime soon, not with what happened.

► L33T (Verified Cape)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Now that you mention it, I can't find anything about the music Medley played. That's not right.

► Judge (Moderator) (Veteran Member)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Hey, let's not go off topic just because someone mentioned Canary. You guys haven't done anything wrong, but it happened recently enough that it's still an open wound for some people. Don't mention it in a thread that's not specifically meant for it.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

(Showing Page 2 of 7)

► L33T (Verified Cape)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Nakyak  
She can't be sued for it, not like some people can. She's not profiting off of the music itself in any way.

EDIT: Guys, this really isn't right. I can't find the music ANYWHERE. I have programs that let me pull up any video or music I need for when Uber and I go out, but it's like the songs she used don't exist.

► Nakyak (Cape Geek)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

L33T  
Weird. I've got no explanation. I mean, it's not like her power is making music. She has speakers all over her outfit, so clearly its from that. It's good to hear that she won't be sued just for playing music though.

► XxVoid_CowboyxX (Muted) (Insane Person)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

You guys don't get it! The merchants shouldn't have been there. They don't usually do stuff like that. I bet Medley hired them to be there just so she could go big and make a debut! And she stole the music from the producers before taking them out! That's why no one knew about her. Her name's [censored]

EDITED by Tin_Mother: Come on Void, this is one of your weirdest theories yet. I'm not even going to bother listing all the reasons she couldn't have done that. Also, despite that name's ridiculousness, you still are speculating about a cape's identity. Here's a new tag until you simmer down.

► Reave (Verified PRT Employee)

Replied on September 12, 2010:  
While the PRT cannot make a statement as of yet, we have gotten reports from Glory Girl and Gallant, and will release a report shortly.

► L33T (Verified Cape)  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Come on Reave, we all know that means there's something shady going on if you haven't immediately said you don't support Medley's actions. I mean, she did knock out one of the Wards.  
She also had some really good points as to why she didn't want to join the Wards. I wonder why she had such a hater-on for Shadow Stalker. SS only joined the Wards, what, like three weeks ago? It must be from before that.

► SnowPeak  
Replied on September 12, 2010:

Speaking of GloryGirl... she normally would have spoken up in this thread already. Or at least one of the other capes from New_Wave. Even Clockblocker should have joined in when those puns were made. I wonder what's wrong?

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Private message from Tin_Mother:

Tin_Mother *New Message*: Medley, in order to prove who you are, I need a photograph or video of you in costume using your powers. It needs to be in a place where I can ensure you are in fact a cape.

Walkman *New Message*: Does this work?

Tin_Mother *New Message*: Of course! Thank you for your assistance. I'll change your tag immediately.

 **AN:**

Soooo... I guess I'm back? I... well... I kinda realized I was in a corner. If you look back to chapter 3, you'll see that Taylor had a power from a song, and she gained knowledge of Emma's entire history, which included the alley and Sophia's identity. I kinda forgot about that. But don't worry! I have gone back through and fixed all the previous chapters to match it, and will be writing a new chapter soon. (If you aren't seeing edits, then they'll be up soon) I have a bunch of plot ideas, I just need to find a way to make them happen. Honestly, I might eventually start writing villain snippets just to get some of the darker ideas out of my system, since this isn't going to be a villain fic.


End file.
